(Photo credit: Hannah Rose Photography)

Silkroad has announced the continuation of its Global Musician Workshop (GMW) in the summer of 2024, including the first-ever international iteration of the program in Hangzhou, China.

For the fourth consecutive year, Silkroad partners with New England Conservatory for the Boston-based GMW. This year, the Boston program is held from Aug. 4-10. The Hangzhou program presented in partnership with Zhejiang Conservatory of Music takes place from Aug. 26-31. The 2024 programs in both cities include professional development workshops and a multi-night Performance Festival featuring Silkroad artists, conservatory faculty, special guests including guest artist and vocalist Abeer Nehme, as well as the GMW participants.

The Global Musician Workshop Boston received the largest number of applicants in the program’s history, welcoming 68 musicians selected from a pool of 218 applicants. Participants represent 28 countries and 32 instruments. Participants in both programs will take part in faculty-led repertoire and arranging workshops; elective classes covering techniques, concepts, and styles of genres from around the globe; nightly jam sessions and open mic nights; and community-building activities. All sessions will focus on music-making through cross-cultural collaboration, modeling the philosophy that inspired the creation of the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble.

Like in Boston, the program in Hangzhou is open to participants from around the globe; workshops and sessions will be held in English with Chinese translators on site. For this pilot year, 30 participants from three different countries were selected from a pool of 66 applicants representing 11 countries. GMW Hangzhou is co-directed by Wu Man and Mike Block.

Man shared in a press release, “I am excited that, this summer, we have a new partnership with Zhejiang Conservatory of Music and will present a Global Musician Workshop in my home country China in addition to Boston. Every year, I look forward to working with the talented musicians from around the globe who come together to exchange their cultural and musical traditions. My hope is that through classes, talks, collaboration, and performance, they will make meaningful connections and have a deeper appreciation and understanding of all the world’s musical styles.”

Public performances given by the participants take place Aug. 6-10 in Boston at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. Performances in Hangzhou take place Aug. 27, 30, and 31. All GMW Hangzhou performances will be held at the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music’s Standard Concert Hall.