20th Anniversary Tour
Silkroad Ensemble
Heroes Take Their Stands, April 30, 2019 8:00PM

Item details

Date

April 30, 2019 8:00PM

Description

Segerstrom Hall

Silkroad Ensemble

Part of the Eclectic Orange Series, sponsored by Judith and Howard Jelinek

Please note: there is no pre-concert lecture for this performance.

HEROES TAKE THEIR STANDS

PAUCHI SASAKI and NOMI SASAKI	Elektra [The Oresteia, 5th century BCE]
KAORU WATANABE and WU MAN	June Snow [The Stand of Dou E, 13th century]
COLIN JACOBSEN and APARNA RAMASWAMY	Arjuna's Revelation [The Bhagavad Gita, 2nd century BCE]
JASON MORAN and LUCY RAVE	Moderato 400 [Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Holt Street Baptist Church, 1955]
KAYHAN KALHOR and HAMID RAHMANIAN	The Prince of Sorrows [The Stand of Siavosh from The Shahnameh, 10th century]

Representing a global array of cultures, the multi-Grammy-winning international music collective Silkroad Ensemble brings Heroes Take Their Stands, an ambitious multimedia commissioning project that unpacks the magnitude of being fearlessly human in the face of incompatible obligations.

For the project, conceived by folklorist and sociologist Ahmad Sadri, five composers and as many collaborators from diverse traditions have created new works that explore the stories of five heroic figures across time and cultures, with subjects ranging from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to Elektra from Greek mythology, to Arjuna from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, to Dou E's fable from the Yuan Dynasty, to the Persian epic tale of Siavosh. Each work was developed as part of a conversation between composer and collaborator, resulting in a multi-part, theatrical performance that brings together more than one dozen live instrumentalists with dance, video, animation, and pre-recorded music.

Artistic creators include: Pauchi Sasaki and Nomi Sasaki; Kaoru Watanabe and Wu Man; Colin Jacobsen and Aparna Ramaswamy; Jason Moran and Lucy Raven; and Kayhan Kalhor and Hamid Rahmanian.

Heroes creator Ahmad Sadri has said: "Human societies have used folklore and tradition as means of sharing, reinforcing, and perpetuating values, and conveying deeply held moral and ethical norms. The protagonists we encounter in this suite of five performances were not born heroes. None of them are superior to humankind, nor are they deities or superheroes. They are normal individuals who choose to act or react in ways that spare others' lives or right profound injustices—and their acts offer enduring inspiration for us all. The decisions they make at these crucial moments in their lives—to do the right thing, to do the just thing, regardless of the personal consequences—is what makes them heroes. Their examples demonstrate that each of us is born with a capacity for heroism—and that it is up to each of us to choose to act, to take our stand.

"I have always felt that the sublime essence and grandeur of the heroic gesture cannot be truly captured in words alone. This was my inspiration for bringing these stories to Silkroad."

Like all of Silkroad's work, Heroes Take Their Stands explores the habits fundamental to living in a democratic society and an inclusive world: curiosity, empathy, and collaboration.

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Individual tickets are not available for this event at this time. Individual tickets will go on sale on August 11. Subscribe to our 2025-26 season. Please contact our Patron Services Department at (949) 553-2422 to get up-to-the-minute ticket availability information. Hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.