The Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble will visit Morgantown for a one-night performance on April 24.   

Founded by Yo-Yo Ma and led by Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, Silkroad strives to bring hope and healing to its listeners. Its programs encourage unity through the universal language of music, while celebrating the history and uniqueness of each culture involved.   

For Uplifted Voices, Giddens united the women of the ensemble, who took on the challenge of highlighting previously unrecognized and underappreciated voices. The resulting program  changes the perspective around the history and migration of music.   

Pura Fé is a Tuscarora/Taíno performer, who brings her soulful vocals and lap-steel slide guitar playing to the ensemble. She helps Uplifted Voices connect indigenous North American music to other cultures across the globe.  

“By learning from each musician about the story and the style and its creation, we learn a lot from each other, I believe...and do our best to keep it in check,” Fé said. “I love singing in all of these languages. Being taught how and the story. I love this! My favorite music is traditional music from all around the world. So, this is so crazy special and Rhiannon is brilliant for spinning us all into motion.”   

Joining Fé are percussionist Haruka Fujii , flutist and vocalist Nathalie Joachim, Celtic harpist and vocalist Maeve Gilchrist, pipa virtuoso Wu Man and cellist Karen Ouzounian.  

“The artists that form Uplifted Voices come from such varied personal, cultural and musical backgrounds, and we each draw from our heritage, our familial histories, our diasporic experiences, and our ancestors in the contemporary musical creations that we are presenting,” said Ouzounian.   

Each of the artists contributed music that reflects their heritage, including Ouzounian’s composition “Der Zor.” The piece is based on archival recordings of an Armenian folk song called “Der Zor Chollerende,” a song sung in Turkish by the victims of the Armenian Genocide while on the forced marches into the Syrian desert of Der Zor.  

“My heart rate elevates quite a bit when we perform the piece...It’s a haunting and devastating song, but the fact that these recordings exist, and that we as musicians can share this music for you live, carries with it a hopeful message amidst the legacies of genocide and dispossession. With the sounds of an Armenian coffee cup and of hands being washed, the music also positions us in the present, harkening to the experience of sitting in my mother’s kitchen with her and my grandmother, listening to them share stories of our past.”  

Fujii’s and Gilchrist’s compositions take inspiration from the Japanese and Irish immigrants who helped build the American Transcontinental Railroad. While Fé explores her indigenous roots, Joachim dives into her Haitian heritage. Man’s compositions draw from the traditional music of her hometown, Hangzhou, China.  

Silkroad is more than a performing ensemble. It seeks to encourage others to engage in artistic risk-taking. Though artists within Uplifted Voices may vary from tour to tour, the drive to educate and spread joy remains.   

“Uplifted Voices is unique and deeply engaging on so many levels, but there is also such a palpable, joyful energy and electricity among the musicians!” said Ouzounian.   

Uplifted Voices performers will share that energy by hosting a masterclass with WVU students before the show. VP Poore from the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will also host a post-show panel discussion following the performance to discuss the development of the program, bringing together music from across cultures to create something new, and the important role the arts can play as a catalyst for conversations about diversity and creating a more inclusive society.  

“The Silkroad Ensemble is a beautiful display of music's healing power on people and how it can connect communities with every note played. It is my hope that all attendees enjoy the experience,” Poore said.  

School of Music professors Michael Vercelli and Jennifer Walker will also participate on the panel along with at least one member of the touring ensemble.   

“We all need to experience live performing arts and community more than ever,” Ouzounian said. “There is no substitute for it in our lives — for taking the time to simply be open and present in the concert hall, listening and engaging with the music and performers, disconnecting from our devices, being a part of the shared space.”  

Silkroad Ensemble will perform Uplifted Voices on Wednesday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. in the Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre at the Canady Creative Arts Center. To purchase tickets, visit 

https://wvucca.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=1556&direct=true.