Ma refers to the trade routes as the Internet of antiquity, and his nonprofit Silk Road Project has set a similarly ambitious course to connect people. To date, some 60 Silk Road ensemble performers have played in 25 countries and produced three albums and 30 commissioned works. The in-house ensemble numbers 41 artists and 19 composers. Recently, the project expanded to include giving workshops in New York City public schools, with the hope of expanding to Chicago and beyond.

Through the Silk Road Project, Ma has combined a world’s worth of sights and sounds, thus, in a way, merging anthropology and archaeology. “I’m reporting things, and what I’m reporting, hopefully, is a kind of advocacy for a person or a state of mind of the world [that contextualizes] a time period, whether it’s our time period or some period of the past or maybe the future. I think of it as the coding of music, the coding of sounds that actually gives access to areas that are both verbal and nonverbal. My interest just comes from trying to figure out who said what and why. Why do people act the way they do and code something in sound? What was their motivation?”

The project has been roundly embraced, with financial assistance being provided by everyone from the U.S. Department of State to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. In fact, it has been so successful that in 2002, Ma was appointed a CultureConnect ambassador by the U.S. State Department, and in 2006, he was named a Messenger of Peace by the then secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan.

That the Silk Road Project reflects Ma’s ambition and energy is evidenced by its touring schedule. Stops are planned in England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Romania for the end of this year, and then for the spring of 2010, events have been planned in Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Macao. Ma’s “regular,” performance schedule is just as demanding: Between February 26 and June 6 of this year, he played 23 concerts in 18 cities worldwide.