PROGRAM: THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE FEBRUARY 24 / 7:30 PM BING CONCERT HALL

36 STANFORD LIVE MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 ARTISTS INTRODUCTION The Silk Road Ensemble For nearly 2,000 years (ending in the 14th century), the series of land and sea trade routes that Yo-Yo Ma, artistic director composed the historical Silk Road created an intercontinental superhighway of exchange as goods Joseph Gramley, associate artistic director and innovations crisscrossed Eurasia. Inspired by these many exchanges—of knowledge, religious beliefs, artistic practices, and musical traditions—we like to think of our group as a creative cauldron, Kinan Azmeh, clarinet with a vision of connecting artists and audiences around the world. By exploring the traditional music Jeffrey Beecher, bass of each other’s cultures and commissioning new works (many composed by Ensemble members), Mike Block, cello we hope to create the feeling of a borderless musical experience, one which returns in spirit to the Nicholas Cords, viola joyous campfire gatherings of former Silk Road adventurers. Haruka Fujii, percussion Johnny Gandelsman, violin Joseph Gramley, percussion PROGRAM Cristina Pato, gaita and piano Cristina Pato, Kojiro Umezaki Vojo Shane Shanahan, percussion Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi Kinan Azmeh Ibn Arabi Postlude Michi Wiancko, violin Giovanni Sollima Taranta Project * Tour Management: Opus 3 Artists Traditional Galician and Edward Perez The Latina 6/8 Suite ** Mary Pat Buerkle, senior vice president, I. Tarantella-Muiñeira manager, artists and attractions II. Tanguillo: The High Seas III. Joropo-Festejo: Muiñeira de Chantada Silkroad: IV. Fandango: Prueba de Fuego Laura Freid, CEO/executive director Cristin Canterbury Bagnall, director of INTERMISSION artistic and learning programs Liz Keller-Tripp, artistic administrator Christopher Marrion, deputy director Kojiro Umezaki Tsuru no Ongaeshi Jessica Shuttleworth, digital media (Repayment from a Crane) and events specialist Ed Sweeney, comptroller and business Osvaldo Golijov Night of the Flying Horses manager Lori Taylor, education specialist Suite of Songs Sandeep Das, Kojiro Umezaki If you shall return… Production: Michio Mamiya Miero vuotti uutta kuuta from Jody Elff, sound engineer Five Finnish Folk Songs Lisa Porter, stage manager Kinan Azmeh, Jeffrey Beecher Syrian Improvisation John Torres, lighting designer John Zorn, arr. Cristina Pato Khabiel from Book of Angels*** Elijah Walker, monitor engineer

* Commissioned by Silkroad ** Arrangement commissioned by Silkroad, based on an idea by Cristina Pato for Lead Sponsor her Latina project *** Arrangement commissioned by Silkroad

PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Please be considerate of others and turn off all phones, pagers, and watch alarms, and unwrap all lozenges prior to the performance. Photography and recording of any kind are not permitted. Thank you.

encoremediagroup.com 37 PROGRAM: THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE

Vojo was conceived by Silk Road Ensemble (yes, that Suleiman, the Magnificent, 16th- came to the Northern Cheyenne tribe; he members Cristina Pato and Kojiro Umezaki century sultan of the Ottoman Empire) then used his shakuhachi to illustrate the to connect two sides of the world—Spain perhaps hints at the great cultural fluidity life of a crane, a story with deep symbolic and Japan—through the somewhat unlikely and richness of the Mediterranean region. overtones in Japanese culture. The resulting but thoroughly Silk Road-ian pairing of the work expands on that experience to bring gaita (Galician bagpipes) and shakuhachi Many of these influences are evident in to life one of the most popular folk stories (Japanese bamboo flute). Pato and Umezaki Taranta Project, commissioned by Silkroad in Japan, which Umezaki retells in Tsuru were intrigued by the possibilities of creating for its 2008 workshop at the Tanglewood no Ongaeshi, or Repayment from a Crane. a common language through music, just as Music Center. Following a mirage-like The piece seamlessly weaves together two Esperanto tried to do with written and spoken introduction, the work launches into a modes of storytelling: one through the language in the 19th century. In fact, vojo sequence of feverish dances whose intricate spoken word and the other through both means “the way” or “the road” in Esperanto. interlocking grooves call upon the performers original music and select fragments from Using traditional melodic lines from Galicia to oscillate between village band and rock traditional Edo Period shakuhachi repertoire, and Okinawa, Vojo introduces this evening’s band. At one point, the piece breaks into which serve to underscore the essential program with a dialogue from opposite sides a duet between cello and percussion, an drama and atmosphere of the story. of the world attempting to understand and episode overflowing with bravado (perfect for connect with each other’s cultural roots. busking). The cello part calls for scordatura Argentinian native Osvaldo Golijov grew up to achieve “power chords” by tuning the around classical music, klezmer, and tango and Tonight’s version of Ibn Arabi Postlude was C string an octave lower than normal, and has created an utterly distinctive compositional created for the Silk Road Ensemble by Syrian the score calls for the percussionist to freely language drawing from those influences composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and add vocalization and body rhythms. Calm and many more. A long-time friend and comes from his orchestral work The Ibn Arabi reassurances that no musician was harmed collaborator of the Silk Road Ensemble, he has Suite (commissioned by the Osnabrück in the making of this performance... a passionate curiosity and the uncanny ability Symphony Orchestra). The work was inspired to juxtapose disparate elements, which have by the writings of Ibn Arabi, an Arab Muslim The Latina 6/8 Suite consists of original gained him a singular profile as a composer. mystic and Sufi philosopher who traveled from material by Edward Perez along with The three pieces that make up Night of the Andalusia to Damascus in the 13th century traditional music, all based on an idea Flying Horses are his arrangements for the seeking knowledge. Azmeh was struck by conceived and commissioned by Cristina Silk Road Ensemble of an original concert Ibn Arabi’s philosophy that love and free Pato as part of her Latina album project. The work scored for flute, clarinet, and strings thinking are as sacred as any religious beliefs. four-movement suite begins with the Italian called Lullaby and Doina. The lullaby is a About the music, which is in a 15/8 meter, he tarantella (a style hinted at in the preceding set of variations on a Yiddish lullaby he says, “The piece blurs the lines between the Taranta Project) and travels through Spain composed for Sally Potter’s film The Man composed and the improvised and can be and Latin America. Pato explains that the Who Cried. According to Golijov, “The lullaby described as an obsessive ritualistic dance in piece is “a way to embrace my heritage metamorphoses into the second movement, the maqam, or melodic form, known as Kurd.” through music, looking at the connections a dense and dark doina (a slow, rubato Gypsy between the country where the word ‘Latino’ lament), and closes with a fast gallop boasting “I follow the Way of Love, and originated—Italy—and the countries that are a theme I stole from friends who are members where Love’s caravan takes its path, considered ‘Latino’ today.” The suite explores of the wild Gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks.” there is my religion, my faith.” the many facets of 6/8 meter, essential to —Ibn Arabi such styles as the Venezuelan joropo, the During a Silk Road Ensemble residency at the Peruvian festejo, and the Galician muiñeira, Art Institute of Chicago in 2006, ensemble In his music, Sicilian cellist and composer along with other rhythms from dances that members Sandeep Das, Ko Umezaki, and Hu Giovanni Sollima deftly combines elements have traveled both to and from the Latin Jianbing (fellow ensemble member and sheng of classical music, rock, and jazz, as well world, namely the tanguillo and the fandango. virtuoso from China) were huddled together, as ethnic musical traditions from Sicily just moments before a gallery performance, and other Mediterranean lands such as On a recent residency in Lame Deer, wondering what they were going to play. Das North Africa, Israel and the Middle East, Montana, an exchange of stories took whispered a tune into Umezaki’s ear, which the Balkan states, Turkey, and Andalusia. place between Native American youth, Ko was subsequently “reinterpreted” by Hu Though certainly not a direct link, the Umezaki, and fellow Silk Road Ensemble Jianbing in the performance as something linguistic closeness of Sollima and Suleiman members. Umezaki learned how the flute quite different from what Das had originally

38 STANFORD LIVE MAGAZINE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 intended. The original tune, heavy-laden in a project, an experiment in Jewish musical and virtuosic” by the Wall Street Journal, minor modality, was spontaneously inverted styles inspired by his own heritage. In “one of the 21st century’s great ensembles” that day into a decidedly more sunny version! approaching this arrangement, Pato found by the Vancouver Sun, and a “roving musical What Das sang initially was a Bhatiali boat that “the original melody of Khabiel took laboratory without walls” by the Boston Globe. song from the Ganges delta region. The me directly to the south of Spain.” Indeed, Audiences and critics throughout Asia, solitary boatmen associated with these songs a distinctively flamenco flavor grounds this Europe, and North America have embraced would typically sing out of loneliness, not arrangement, broken up in the middle by the these artists, who are passionate about knowing if or when they would return. weightless visitation of a heavenly presence. cross-cultural understanding and innovation.

Since its inception that day in Chicago— Night of the Flying Horses appears on The Silk Road Ensemble’s performers and and very much embracing that day’s New Impossibilities (Sony Classical). Miero composers hail from more than 20 countries. game of musical telephone—it has grown vuotti uutta kuuta appears on Silk Road Dedicated to learning from one another’s into the present work, If you shall return... Journeys: When Strangers Meet (Sony traditions and incorporating them into their Assembled by Umezaki, this composition Classical). If you shall return... appears on own artistic voices, these rooted explorers co- adds expanded melodic material and solo Sing Me Home, scheduled for release in create art, performance, and ideas. Through sections, all set against the altered original spring 2016 (Sony Classical). engaging, high-energy programs, the Silk motive (heard initially in the viola). As the —Notes by Nicholas Cords Road Ensemble draws on the rich tapestry of tune gently gathers steam, it eventually traditions that make up our shared cultural reaches a turbulent climax—perhaps a ABOUT SILKROAD heritage, creating a new musical language—an point of no return for the boatman? Inspired by his curiosity about the world engaging and accessible encounter between and eager to forge connections across the familiar and the previously unknown. Michio Mamiya’s insatiable curiosity about cultures, disciplines, and generations, the traditional music of his native Japan— cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded the nonprofit Throughout Asia, Europe, and North America, along with Scandinavia and Africa—greatly organization Silkroad in 1998. Through Silk the Silk Road Ensemble has performed for influenced his compositional output. Early Road Ensemble performances, the creation more than 1.8 million people in some of the on in his life as a composer, Mamiya became of new music, and programs for educators world’s most lauded venues including Carnegie fascinated with the Sami people of Finland and teaching artists, Silkroad is committed Hall, Suntory Hall, the Concertgebouw, (also known as the Lapps), the indigenous to exploring the role of the arts in fostering and the John F. Kennedy Center for the people of sub-Arctic Scandinavia who cross-cultural understanding, deepening Performing Arts. Ensemble performances have represent a somewhat surprising musical and learning, and promoting innovation. also highlighted the Nobel Prize celebrations linguistic connection to the East. Inspired to in Stockholm, the Sir Bani Yas Forum in explore deeper, Mamiya traveled to Finland to With a conviction that by exploring our the United Arab Emirates, the Special study its indigenous music, following his studies differences we enrich our humanity, this Olympics in Shanghai, the Lucerne Festival in Western classical music composition at the community of globally minded artists, in Switzerland, and London’s BBC Proms. Tokyo Academy. Tonight’s selection, Miero passionate learners, and cultural entrepreneurs vuotti uutta kuuta (a song of the new moon), strives to create unexpected connections, The group has recorded five albums, including is a loving snapshot of these encounters and is collaborations, and communities in pursuit its most recent CD, A Playlist without Borders, excerpted from Mamiya’s larger 1977 collection, of meaningful change. Recognizing every and the Live from Tanglewood DVD, and Five Finnish Folk Songs for Cello and Piano. tradition as the result of successful innovation, is currently recording a new album to be Silkroad works at the edge where education, released in 2016. A documentary about the Following an improvisation by Kinan Azmeh business, and the arts come together to Silk Road Ensemble by Academy Award– and bassist Jeffrey Beecher, we close with spark new ways of looking at our world. winning filmmaker Morgan Neville, The Khabiel from Book of Angels, a sprawling Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road collection of short melodies in lead-sheet ABOUT THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE Ensemble, will also be released in 2016.• form (melody plus basic chordal outline), Since 2000, the Silk Road Ensemble has been created and assembled with a near monastic redefining music for 21st-century audiences. Like what you hear? dedication by the prolific American composer, Formed by Yo-Yo Ma as a way of bringing Follow @silkroadproject on Facebook multi-instrumentalist, and improviser John together performers and composers from and Twitter or visit www.silkroadproject.org/ Zorn. Book of Angels is the second in a around the world, the ensemble continues to concerts. Subscribe to be the first to hear series of collections from Zorn’s Masada break new ground. It has been called “vibrant about activities and future performances.

encoremediagroup.com 39