Silkroad Announces Participants & Performances For 2023 Global Musician Workshop

For the third consecutive year, Silkroad and New England Conservatory (NEC) are partnering to present the Global Musician Workshop (GMW) from August 6-12. The 2023 program includes seven days of professional development workshops and a multi-night Performance Festival featuring Silkroad artists, NEC faculty, special guests, and GMW participants. Performances are open to the public; tickets are available at silkroad.org.

Through a process co-led by two Silkoad artists, cellist Mike Block and pipa player Wu Man, this year's GMW brings together 70 musicians, representing 25 countries and 26 instruments. These participants were selected from a pool of 175 applicants—50% of which were international individuals—and their tuition to participate in the program will be fully underwritten by Silkroad.

See the names, instruments, and country of origin for the 2023 GMW participants.

“I feel excited for the opportunity to spend a whole week with these incredible musicians and our outstanding faculty artists," said GMW Director Mike Block. "As in previous years, we will learn about various cultures, instruments, and styles, leaning into what makes each of us unique and sharing in the musical language that brings us all together. It will be a real treat to dive into so many different perspectives of what music can be, while also finding our common ground.”

Co-Lead Wu Man added, “It brings me such joy to be a part of GMW. Every year, it's incredible to see all the different people, colors, and languages coming together from around the globe. It's what I've always wanted to achieve through my career—sharing cultures and creating a global community of musicians. Although I am unable to participate in the workshop this year, I was very happy to collaborate closely with Mike, planning an exciting week of classes, talks, and jam sessions. The musicians who will join us are all deeply connected to their own backgrounds and musical styles, so it's a wonderful, welcoming opportunity to connect and collaborate with one another."

Joining Block to teach and lead a diverse set of sessions will be Silkroad artists Maeve Gilchrist, Edward Pérez, and Balla Kouyaté (who is also NEC Faculty); NEC Faculty Hankus Netsky; and guest artists Jamey Haddad, Mei Han, Abeer Nehme, and Kala Ramnath. This group of all-star faculty artists represents a wide range of cultural backgrounds and musical traditions.

Participants will take part in faculty-led repertoire and arranging workshops; elective classes covering a variety of topics such as techniques, concepts, and styles; nightly jams and open mic nights; and community-building activities. All sessions will focus on music-making and cross-cultural collaboration, a value that inspired the creation of the Silkroad Ensemble and continues to be its guiding principle. In that spirit, students will be encouraged to learn, exchange, and integrate each other's musical traditions while advancing their own skills.

In addition to their professional development work, participants will perform for audiences at NEC's Jordan Hall as part of the 2023 GMW Performance Festival from August 8-12. The first concert showcases GMW faculty, followed by four evenings of participant performances in which they will share new music and arrangements created over the course of the week.

For more information about Silkroad's annual GMW program, please visit silkroad.org/gmw.

 

Silkroad's 2023 Global Musician Workshop (GMW)

Hosted in Partnership with New England Conservatory

Sunday, August 6-Saturday, August 12

New England Conservatory's Campus (not open to the public)

Silkroad artists, together with NEC faculty and special guests, lead a professional development program that includes group workshops, play-along jam sessions, panel discussions, topic-based elective classes, and more—all representing a wide range of backgrounds and traditions from around the world.

 

2023 GMW Faculty

Mike Block, GMW Director/Silkroad Artist & NEC Faculty/multi-style cello

Maeve Gilchrist, Silkroad Artist/Celtic Harp

Jamey Haddad, Guest Artist/percussion

Mei Han, Guest Artist/zheng

Balla Kouyaté, Silkroad Artist/NEC Faculty/balafon

Abeer Nehme, Guest Artist/Voice

Hankus Netsky, Guest Artist/NEC Faculty/multi-instrumentalist

Edward Pérez, Silkroad Artist/bass

Kala Ramnath, Guest Artist/Indian Hindustani violin

 

2023 GMW Participants

Aakaash Rao, piano (USA)

Aaron Jonah Lewis, fiddle & banjo (USA/UK)

Adel Ardalan, daf (Iran)

Alejandra Gomez, trumpet (Uruguay)

Alejandro Castellano, oud & guitar (USA)

Ali Bandeali, percussion (USA)

Anastasiya Voytyuk, bandura & voice (Ukraine)

Anna Fisher-Roberts, flute (USA)

Arafat Kazi, drum set (USA)

Bahar Badieitabar, oud (Iran)

Beitong Liu, erhu (China)

Belery Firmin, guitar (Chad)

Benjamin Barreiro, saxophone (Uruguay)

Carolina Sena, voice (Argentina)

Christylez Bacon, human beatbox (USA)

Colleen Bernstein, percussion (USA)

Eleanor Dunsdon, Celtic harp (UK)

Emily Mitchell, guitar (USA)

Eric Heveron-Smith, bass & trombone (USA)

Eric Zheng, saxophone (USA)

Erin Guinup, voice (USA)

Erin Hogan, voice (USA)

Ezra Rudel, trumpet (USA)

Gabriel Genest, saxophone (Canada)

Gregor Black, percussion (UK)

Harold Nat-Johnson, guitar (Sierra Leone)

Huma Rahimi, sitar (Afghanistan)

Igor Iwanek, harmonium & keyboard (Poland/USA)

Iñaki Reta-Moreno, accordion (Spain)

Isabel Castellvi, cello (USA)

Iyabode Johnson, voice (Sierra Leone)

Jace Mason, guitar (USA)

James Perretta, viola da gamba (USA)

Jason Lee, violin (Taiwan)

Jim Guttmann, bass (USA)

Johanna Andrea Amaya Conejo, drum set (Colombia)

Johannes Claassen, vibraphone (Germany)

Jon Diaz, guitar (USA)

Josh Plotner, saxophone & woodwinds (USA)

Josiah Duhlstine, cello (USA)

Julian Loida, percussion (USA)

Justin Paschalides, accordion (USA)

Kaitlyn Raitz, cello (USA)

Kate Krontiris, voice (USA)

Katerina Zhiyuan Luo, guzheng (China)

Laith Alattar, oud & voice (USA)

Lindsey Clark, viola & nyckelharpa (USA)

Mahya Hamedi, voice & piano (Iran)

Malik Schilling, hand percussion (Germany)

Maria Mendez Ramirez, piano & voice (Russia)

Maurizio Fiore Salas, Venezuelan cuatro (Venezuela)

Maximilian Jacobs, violin (USA)

Mehrnam Rastegari, kamancheh & Iranian violin (Iran)

Mei Stone, flute (USA)

Nadia Pessoa, harp (USA)

Nicole Lopez, voice (USA/Colombia)

Noam Ginsparg, cello (USA)

Norma Viridiana Hernández Villa, violin (Mexico)

Paul July Joseph, drum (Haiti)

Ria Modak, guitar (USA)

Robert Chappell, tabla, piano & mallets (USA)

Roksana Sarrafi, voice & setar (Iran)

Sam Stage, fiddle (USA)

Samuel Sjostedt, oud (USA)

Saomek Srithongkum, piano (Thailand)

Solomon Fatoma, keyboard (Sierra Leone)

Upasak Mukherjee, tabla (India)

Xing Wan, guzheng (Hong Kong)

Yi Fan, pipa (China)

Yotam Ishay, piano (Israel/Lithuania)

 

2023 GMW Performance Festival

Tuesday, August 8-Saturday, August 12 at 8 p.m. nightly

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall

Tickets: $25 Faculty Concert, $15 Participant Concerts, $50 All-Inclusive Five-Day Pass

GMW presents five varied concerts, showcasing faculty and participants alike! On August 8, the GMW Faculty Concert will feature newly created arrangements by the faculty artists, blending together musics from India, Mali, the United States, China, Lebanon, and more. From August 9-12, GMW participants will perform in bands alongside GMW faculty to present brand-new arrangements of tunes from around the world.

 

About New England Conservatory

New England Conservatory (NEC) was established by Eben Tourjée in Boston, Massachusetts in 1867, and is an exemplary music school that blends European traditions with American innovation. As an independent conservatory at the heart of Boston's vibrant cultural heritage and music scene, NEC showcases a variety of concerts at the prestigious Jordan Hall on Huntington Avenue, which is widely known as Boston's Avenue of the Arts. NEC, a non-profit educational institution, offers musical education and training to students of all ages, cultivating a dynamic, diverse community of music students from over 40 countries. With 225 internationally respected artist-teachers and scholars, NEC provides high-quality training and performance opportunities. NEC believes in harnessing profound artistry, bold creativity, and deep compassion to enhance the impact of musicians in promoting shared humanity. It also empowers students to meet the challenges of the changing world, equipped with the tools and confidence to lead multidimensional lives of artistic relevance and depth. NEC advances the boundaries of music-making and teaching, offering college-level training in classical, jazz, and contemporary improvisation. Additionally, NEC provides unique interdisciplinary programs like Entrepreneurial Musicianship and Community Performances & Partnerships, which empower students to create their own musical opportunities. As part of its commitment to making lifelong music education available to all, the Preparatory School and School of Continuing Education provide training and performance opportunities for children, pre-college students, and adults.

To learn more about NEC, please visit necmusic.edu and @necmusic on social media.

About Silkroad

Yo-Yo Ma conceived Silkroad in 1998, recognizing the historical Silk Road as a model for radical cultural collaboration—for the exchange of ideas, tradition, and innovation across borders. In an innovative experiment, he brought together musicians from the lands of the Silk Road to co-create a musical language founded in difference, thus creating the foundation of Silkroad: 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 leads social impact initiatives and educational programming alongside the creation of new music by the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble.

To learn more, visit silkroad.org and @silkroadproject on social media.

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