Silkroad Announces November Tour of American Railroad

Silkroad presents a reimagined version of its American Railroad program, featuring the Silkroad Ensemble with pipa virtuoso Wu Man in November 2025. The upcoming tour will encompass five cities in the New England and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.

Originally conceived by Silkroad’s Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, American Railroad sheds light on the profound yet often-overlooked contributions of Indigenous and African Americans, as well as Chinese, Irish, Japanese, and other immigrant communities, to the construction of the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad and connecting railways across North America. Just as the ancient Silk Road facilitated cultural exchange between Asia and Europe, the railroad transformed the American landscape—both uniting and dividing the people whose lives it touched.

In a powerful reimagining of this acclaimed program, Silkroad presents an intimate yet dynamic eight-piece ensemble, led by internationally renowned pipa master and longtime founding member of Silkroad Wu Man. The program highlights collaborations of traditional percussion instruments from India, Japan, and Italy, alongside the Chinese pipa, guitar, and string instruments, as well as the Chinese suona and European accordion. Featuring original compositions by Silkroad artists and guest composers, this performance amplifies the voices of those who built the railroads—and those who were displaced by them—painting a richer, more accurate picture of America’s past and its reverberations today.

Beyond the stage, the story of American Railroad is available in a podcast, an educational curriculum, an album, and the PBS series My Music with Rhiannon Giddens (Season 2). From the original podcast, PRX also recently released a one-hour special with a strong focus on the stories and contributions of Chinese and Japanese immigrants.

2025 AMERICAN RAILROAD TOUR – ROSTER & SCHEDULE:

Wu Man, pipa
Niwel Tsumbu, guitar
Shawn Conley, bass
Sandeep Das, tabla
Kaoru Watanabe, Japanese flutes and percussion
Michi Wiancko, violin
Guo Yazhi, Chinese winds and percussion
Francesco Turrisi, accordion and frame drums

November 7, 2025
Quick Center for the Arts
Fairfield, CT
Tickets

Educational Activities:
Open rehearsal for area public school students (November 6; not open to the public).

November 8, 2025
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Great Barrington, MA
Tickets

November 9, 2025
Presented by FirstWorks
The VETS
Providence, RI
Tickets

Educational/Community Activities:
Virtual discussion with Silkroad artists (October 30; open to the public but registration required)
Student matinee performance (November 9; not open to the public)

November 13, 2025
The Colonial Theatre
Keene, NH
Tickets

November 16, 2025
The Music Center at Strathmore
North Bethesda, MD
Tickets

About Silkroad
Yo-Yo Ma conceived Silkroad in 1998, recognizing the historical Silk Road as a model for cultural collaboration—for the exchange of ideas, tradition, and innovation across borders. In a groundbreaking experiment, he brought together musicians from the lands of the Silk Road to co-create a musical language founded in difference, thus creating the foundation of Silkroad: both a touring ensemble comprised of world-class musicians from all over the globe and a Boston-based non-profit organization working to make a positive impact across borders through the arts.

Today, under the leadership of Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens and Executive Director Ben Hartley, Silkroad leads social impact initiatives and educational programming alongside the creation of new music by the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble.

To learn more, please visit silkroad.org and @silkroadproject on social media.

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.

Wu Man has performed in solo recitals, with major orchestras, and at festivals around the world. She regularly collaborates with ensembles such as the Kronos Quartets and The Knights, and is a founding member of the Silkroad Ensemble. She has appeared on nearly 50 recordings, including numerous Grammy Award-winning and -nominated albums. Wu Man has premiered works by renowned composers including Tan Dun, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Zhao Jiping, Lei Liang, Terry Riley, Bright Sheng, and Chen Yi. Most recently, she premiered Du Yun’s pipa concerto Ears of the Book with The Knights at Carnegie Hall, followed by performances with the Detroit and New Haven Symphonies, and will perform the concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra during the 2025-26 season.

Wu Man’s accolades include the 2023 National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), one of the highest honors in folk and traditional arts, as well as the Asia Society’s 2023 Asia Arts Game Changers Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to contemporary art. In 2021, she received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the New England Conservatory and an Honorary University Fellowship from Hong Kong Baptist University. She was also named Musical America’s 2013 "Instrumentalist of the Year," the first time this prestigious award was given to a player of a non-Western instrument.

Born in Hangzhou, China, Wu Man studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she became the first recipient of a master's degree in pipa. At age 13, she was recognized as a child prodigy and a national role model for young pipa players. She is currently a Visiting Professor at her alma mater the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and a Distinguished Professor at the Zhejiang and the Xi'an Conservatories.

To learn more, please visit wumanpipa.org.

###