Silkroad Ensemble

The world music ensemble founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma performs at the Auckland Arts Festival.

Silkroad Ensemble Photo: Supplied

The Silkroad Ensemble is a group founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998. His vision was a group of musicians brought together from diverse cultures in an attempt to create “a new artistic idiom, a musical language founded in difference.”

The original inspiration was the Silk Road – the ancient network of trade routes from the east to the west – and the many musical cultures across Eurasia.

Nowadays, they expand their world to include influences from musics far beyond that area.

The group has a fluid and flexible membership and for this concert in Auckland, the ensemble consists of two of the co-artistic directors: bass player Jeffrey Beecher and percussionist Shane Shanahan, along with Cristina Pato on Galician bagpipes and piano, singer Nora Fischer, violist Mario Gotoh, tabla player Dandeep Das, Wu Tong – a player of Chinese musical instruments, and percussionist Mark Suter.