The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma & the Silk Road Ensemble
Tuesday, March 27, 6:00pm, UNC Charlotte main campus, Rowe 130
Morgan Neville, US, 2015, 96 min.
In English
Sponsored by the Office of International Programs, the College of Arts + Architecture, and the J. Murray Atkins Library, UNC Charlotte
Introduction by Madelyn Baer, International Scholar Advisor, UNC Charlotte.
Post-screening discussion, instrument demonstration, and music making with Shamou, Music Director for Dance, UNC Charlotte
Over the past 16 years, an extraordinary group of musicians has come together to celebrate the universal power of music. Named for the ancient trade route linking Asia, Africa and Europe, The Silk Road Ensemble, an international collective created by acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, exemplifies music’s ability to blur geographical boundaries, blend disparate cultures and inspire hope for both artists and audiences.
The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, the latest film from the creators of the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom and the critically-hailed Best of Enemies, follows an ever-changing lineup of performers drawn from the ensemble’s more than 50 instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they gather in locations across the world, exploring the ways art can both preserve traditions and shape cultural evolution.
Blending performance footage, personal interviews and archival film, director Morgan Neville and producer Caitrin Rogers focus on the journeys of a small group of Silk Road Ensemble mainstays from across the globe to create an intensely personal chronicle of passion, talent and sacrifice. Through these moving individual stories, the filmmakers paint a vivid portrait of a bold musical experiment and a global search for the ties that bind.
Reviews:
“MUSICALLY DELIGHTFUL! A first-rate music film capturing a restless desire to communicate… the spirit of hybrid creativity is infectious.” – John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter
“AN IRRESISTIBLE KALEIDOSCOPE OF MUSIC AND GOOD FELLOWSHIP… Finds poetry in the ability of music to bring us home again, wherever we may travel.” – Moira MacDonald, The Seattle Times
“A JOYOUS REVELATION, a group portrait of superb musicians from all over the world offering music as an emblem of what people can do in these fractious times when they live in concert with one another.” – The Wall Street Journal
“…lovely to watch…even more BEAUTIFUL TO HEAR.” – NY Times
“CONSISTENTLY ALIVE! So fun to watch. It’s most insightful message: changing the world through music.” – Tina Hassania, RogerEbert.com
“Offers an INSPIRING LOOK at creative people from very different walks of life who nonetheless communicate beautifully with one another. They don’t need to speak a common language: THEIR DAZZLING MUSIC SAYS IT ALL – Washington Post