Grammy Award-winning music group Silkroad Ensemble is coming to the IU Auditorium at 8 p.m. April 8.
Since its founding by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 2000, the group has been known to advance global understanding and spark cross-cultural collaboration and passion-driven experiences to create a more inclusive world.
Its Bloomington program will feature an evening-length audiovisual performance, “Home Within,” an impressionistic reflection on the notion of “home” in a time of war and conflict through Syria’s recent history.
Formed through a collaboration between Syrian clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh and Syrian-Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad over a decade ago, the work is now performed with Silkroad.
Azmeh said while this project is inspired by a brutal reality, it showcases the aftermath of Syria in a contemporary setting that affects each and every one of us.
“The Syrian tragedy belongs to the whole world the same way that the Ukrainian tragedy right now is not only concerning the Ukrainians,” Azmeh said. “It belongs to all humanity, just like art.”
In addition to Azmeh and Mourad, the “Home Within” artists include Layale Chaker, Shawn Conley, Karen Ouzounian, Issam Rafea and Shane Shanahan.
