Alan Gilbert Conducts Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma for 15th Anniversary This Weekend

The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma will perform alongside the New York Philharmonic, led by Alan Gilbert, for a celebration of the innovative world-music ensemble's 15th anniversary, tonight, February 19, 2015, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 20 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, February 21 at 8:00 p.m.

Titled Sacred and Transcendent, the program will feature the Philharmonic and the Silk Road Ensemble performing both separately and together. The concert will feature Fanfare for Gaita, Suona, and Brass; The Silk Road Suite, a compilation of works commissioned and premiered by the Ensemble; Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky's Sacred Signs Suite; R. Strauss's Death and Transfiguration; and Osvaldo Golijov's Rose of the Winds. The program marks the Silk Road Ensemble's Philharmonic debut.

"The Silk Road Ensemble demonstrates different approaches of exploring world traditions in a way that - through collaboration, flexible thinking, and disciplined imagination - allows each to flourish and evolve within its own frame," Yo-Yo Ma said. "Maestro Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic pursue a similar approach, weaving together differing artistic expressions, embracing all while maintaining their integrity. The Philharmonic is an ideal partner to celebrate the Silk Road Ensemble's anniversary and we look forward to a lively collaboration."

"Yo-Yo Ma has become a close musical colleague, and it's always a privilege to be onstage with this giant," Alan Gilbert said. "He has taken his unbounded curiosity and enthusiasm for all kinds of music and made it possible for people to experience, say, "Yo-Yo Ma has become a close musical colleague, and it's always a privilege to be onstage with this giant," Alan Gilbert said. "He has taken his unbounded curiosity and enthusiasm for all kinds of music and made it possible for people to experience, say, Persian or Appalachian music. This collaboration with Yo-Yo and the Silk Road Ensemble - bringing instruments rarely seen onstage at the New York Philharmonic and with musicians who bring a completely different skill-set - is extremely powerful and is totally in line with what we've been trying to do. I'm really happy that Yo-Yo is here to amplify and support that."

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