Silkroad: Behind the Music (Virtual Artist Talk)

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Registration confirmation will be emailed by Fairfield University. A streaming link will be emailed 24 hours prior to the event. If you register within 24 hours of the event, the streaming link will be sent as soon as possible. Contact 203-254-4010 or quickboxoffice@fairfield.edu for assistance. 

40-minute streaming talk and Q&A 

Join Silkroad artists Wu Man and Sandeep Das—virtuosic performers and composers for “American Railroad”—for a glimpse into the creative process behind this groundbreaking, project. “American Railroad” presents a sonic tapestry of the past, evoking the often-overlooked contributions of Indigenous and African Americans, as well as Chinese, Irish, Japanese, and other immigrant communities who laid the tracks that transformed a nation. This creative conversation will be moderated by composer and scholar, Anthony Cheung. 

Wu Man and Sandeep Das will perform as part of Silkroad Ensemble’s “American Railroad” at the Mahaiwe on November 8 (tickets available). 

Presented in partnership with Colonial Performing Arts Center, Fairfield University Quick Center for the Arts, and First Works, through the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA).

About Silkroad: A Grammy Award-winning musical ensemble, Silkroad is a collective of artists representing dozens of nationalities, traditions and ideas, who use music and art to demonstrate how great beauty can emerge from great difference. The Ensemble strives to engage difference, sparking radical collaboration and music with a purpose, for a more hopeful and inclusive world. 

About Wu Man: Wu Man belongs to a rare group of musicians who have redefined the role of their instruments, in her case, the pipa, a pear-shaped, four-stringed Chinese lute with a rich history spanning centuries. Not only is she recognized as the foremost pipa player in the United States, but she is also celebrated as an accomplished composer, educator, and one of the most prominent instrumentalists of traditional Chinese music. She has premiered hundreds of new works for the pipa, while spearheading multimedia projects to both preserve and create awareness of China’s ancient musical traditions. Her adventurous spirit and virtuosity have led to collaborations across artistic disciplines, allowing her to reach wider audiences as she works to cross cultural and musical borders. 

About Sandeep Das: A Guggenheim Fellow, Sandeep Das is one of the leading Tabla virtuosos in the world today. Since his debut concert at the age of 17 with legendary Sitar player Ravi Shankar, Das has built a prolific international reputation spanning over three decades. He has collaborated with top musicians, ensembles, and orchestras from all over the world, and his original compositions have been performed in 50+ countries. Das is the founder of Harmony and Universality through Music (HUM), a nonprofit organization in India that has promoted global understanding through music performance and provided learning opportunities and scholarships for visually-impaired children with artistic potential since 2009.  His most recent project, Transcending Borders One Note at a Time, launched in 2020 to widespread international acclaim, and seeks to harness the power of music to create positive social change. 

About Anthony Cheung: (Associate Professor of Music, Brown University): Composer and pianist Anthony Cheung writes music that explores the senses, a wide palette of instrumental play and affect, improvisational traditions, reimagined musical artifacts, and multiple layers of textual meaning. Described as “gritty, inventive and wonderfully assured” (San Francisco Chronicle) and praised for its “instrumental sensuality” (Chicago Tribune), his music reveals an interest in the ambiguity of sound sources and constantly shifting transformations of tuning and timbre. His music and commissions have been performed at festivals around the world. He was a co-founder of the Talea Ensemble, performing as a pianist and serving as artistic director. The recipient of a 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship, he has also received awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (Charles Ives Fellowship and Scholarship) and ASCAP, and first prize in the Sixth International Dutilleux Competition (2008), as well as a Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome (2012). 

Funded in part by