September 4, 2007

YO-YO MA AND THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE TO TOUR CHINA
OCTOBER 2 -12, 2007

Concerts and educational activities to take place
in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hong Kong and Beijing

The Silk Road Ensemble will premiere new song by Osvaldo Golijov
as part of Special Olympics Opening Ceremony

September 3, 2007, Providence, R.I. - Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble will embark on a tour of China in October 2007, featuring concert performances and cultural exchange workshops in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hong Kong and Beijing. During the tour, the acclaimed cellist and renowned Ensemble will perform a diverse selection of traditional and new works inspired by the ancient Silk Road trade route, including an arrangement of the ancient Chinese folk melody Ambush from Ten Sides by Wu Tong, a respected proponent of Chinese traditional music and a popular rock musician in China, and Li Cangsang. The highlights of the tour, presented by Music Nation in association with Opus 3 Artists and the Silk Road Project, will include a concert in Beijing's Forbidden City Concert Hall and the debut of a new song by composer Osvaldo Golijov during the official Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics in Shanghai on October 2. Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble previously toured China in 2001.

"The Silk Road Ensemble and I are so looking forward to being in China," stated Yo-Yo Ma, acclaimed cellist and founder and artistic director of the Silk Road Project. "As China heads toward the Olympics, ever mindful of 'One World, One Dream,' at the Silk Road Project we too are looking at and thinking about our one world. Participating in the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics, we are reminded that the heroes in our world come from many different places and many different walks of life. In the music we'll be bringing to Shanghai, Suzhou, Hong Kong and Beijing we strive to celebrate the uniqueness of people and cultures that fuels creativity, while honoring the multiple sources that coalesce to become traditions."

In addition to their performing schedule, the Silk Road Ensemble musicians will also conduct workshops with Hong Kong students and with music students at the Beijing Conservatory. The workshops are part of the Silk Road Project's Innovators in Tradition exchange program with musicians from Azerbaijan, China and India, funded in part by the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which fosters cultural exchange between the U.S. and countries throughout the world.

The Silk Road Project is a not-for-profit arts and educational organization inspired by the interchange of culture and ideas along the historic Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes that linked the peoples and traditions of Asia and Europe from the first millennium B.C.E. through the middle of the second millennium C.E. This series of concerts and workshops marks an exciting opportunity for Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble musicians to re-visit China on their first tour to China since 2001.

The Silk Road Project gratefully acknowledges the support of Ford Motor Company, Global Corporate Partner, and of its corporate sponsors Morgan Stanley and American Express. The Silk Road Project is pleased to recognize Morgan Stanley as its China and Hong Kong sponsor and American Express as its Hong Kong sponsor.

The China tour follows the successful release in July of New Impossibilities, a new recording from Sony Classical of the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma in concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which captures the unprecedented creative collaboration during the yearlong celebration of Silk Road Chicago. The China tour also follows the Silk Road Project's first visit to Switzerland in August, which featured performances by Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble at the renowned Lucerne Festival and a Silk Road Ensemble residency at Museum Rietberg in Zurich.

THE SILK ROAD PROJECT IN CHINA

The Silk Road Ensemble
Yo-Yo Ma, Artistic Director

About the Silk Road Project
Inspired by the interchange of culture, ideas and innovations along the historic trade route, the Silk Road Project is a not-for-profit arts and educational organization that connects musicians, composers, artists and audiences from Asia to Europe to the Americas. Founded in 1998 by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who serves as its artistic director, and led by Laura Freid, executive director and CEO, the Silk Road Project is a catalyst for promoting innovation and learning through cross-cultural and interdisciplinary partnerships. The Silk Road Project presents performances by the Silk Road Ensemble; commissions interdisciplinary works of music, visual art, and storytelling; and develops educational materials and programming

Ford Motor Company is continuing as Global Corporate Partner to the Silk Road Project as part of its longstanding tradition of arts education support.

The Silk Road Project is grateful to Mikimoto for sponsorship of its International Museum Residency Program. Silk Road Project Cultural Exchange Initiative activities are assisted financially by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Silk Road Project is affiliated with Harvard University and Rhode Island School of Design, where the Ensemble collaborates with students and faculty as artists in residence.

About Yo-Yo Ma
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is the founder and artistic director of the Silk Road Project. His many-faceted career is a testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences. One of his goals is to explore music as a means of communication and as a vehicle for the migration of ideas across cultures. Mr. Ma is an exclusive Sony Classical artist, and his discography of over 75 albums (including more than 15 Grammy winners) reflects his wide-ranging interests. Yo-Yo Ma was born to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age four and soon after came with his family to New York, where he enrolled in the Juilliard School. He graduated from Harvard University in 1976.

About the Silk Road Ensemble
The Silk Road Ensemble is a select group of performers and composers drawn from a wide range of cultural and international musical heritages. The Ensemble presents innovative and energetic performances that explore traditional and contemporary music from their diverse backgrounds, provide a creative platform for their own artistic growth and engage audiences in further learning about the Silk Road.