Residencies & Partnerships Music

Silkroad: Train Station Trios

The Grammy-winning Silkroad ensemble in residence

Details

$15–40 (inclusive of fees) 90 minutes
Date(s)

Sat, Apr 15, 2023

8:00pm

Contact

Box Office

888-616-0274
boxoffice@irishartscenter.org

Phone hours:
10am-6pm, Monday-Friday

In person:
Opens 60 minutes before the performance on show days


Location

Irish Arts Center 
726 11th Avenue 
Hell's Kitchen, NYC

Overview

FEATURING
Maeve Gilchrist (Celtic harp)
Kaoru Watanabe (Japanese flutes and percussion)
Kinan Azmeh (clarinet)

Silkroad presents Train Station Trios, a series of open workshops generating new music as part of Silkroad's multi-year American Railroad project, an initiative led by artistic director Rhiannon Giddens that illuminates the impact the African American, Chinese, Indigenous, Irish, and other immigrant communities had on the creation of the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad and connecting railways in North America. 

In this one-of-a-kind New York event, a trio of Silkroad artists along with scholar Leni Sloan, will explore untold stories from these communities, contextualizing the railroad through music and reminding us of America’s intricately rich history.


Yo-Yo Ma conceived Silkroad in 1998 as a reminder that even as rapid globalization resulted in division, it brought extraordinary possibilities for working together. Seeking to understand this dynamic, he recognized the historical Silk Road as a model for cultural collaboration—for the exchange of ideas, tradition, and innovation across borders. In a groundbreaking experiment, he brought together musicians from the lands of the Silk Road to co-create a new artistic idiom: a musical language founded in difference, a metaphor for the benefits of a more connected world. 

This initial gathering of artists was rooted in a simple, initial question: “What happens when strangers meet?” And thus Silkroad was born, as both a touring ensemble comprised of world-class musicians from all over the globe, and a social impact organization working to make a positive impact across borders through the arts. 

Today, under the leadership of Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, Silkroad creates music that engages difference, sparking cultural collaboration and high quality arts education to help build a more hopeful and inclusive world through:

  • The Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble — Silkroad thrills audiences worldwide with a collective of artists representing dozens of nationalities and artistic traditions, demonstrating how great beauty can emerge from great difference. 
  • Creation of new music — Silkroad builds upon a musical language founded in difference and collaboration that draws on the rich tapestry of world traditions that make up our many-layered contemporary identities. 
  • Social impact initiatives — Silkroad brings music, hope, and healing to underserved,  culturally rich, urban, rural, indigenous, and refugee communities. 
  • Educational partnerships — Silkroad uses the arts to ignite passions and foster education in students, teachers, and musicians through training workshops and residency programs in public schools, universities, prisons, and indigenous and refugee communities.

Our Supporters

Irish Arts Center programs are supported, in part, by government, foundation, and corporate partners including Culture Ireland, the agency for the promotion of Irish arts worldwide; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office and the New York City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; Howard Gilman Foundation; Tourism Ireland; the Jerome L. Greene Foundation; the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation; the Charina Endowment Fund; the Ireland Funds; the Shubert Foundation, Inc.; the Arnhold Foundation; the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; the Irish Institute of New York; the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, New York; Northern Ireland Bureau; Invest NI; CIE Tours; M&T Bank; the Dead Rabbit; the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate of Ireland in New York; and thousands of generous donors like you.

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