(LENOX, Mass.) – The 75th anniversary season of Tanglewood,  the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will kick off with a performance by The Silk Road Ensemble with its founder, the world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, at Ozawa Hall on Friday, June 22, 2012, and again on Sunday, June 24. Performances begin at 8 p.m. on both evenings.

On both evenings the ensemble will perform internationally inspired music by composers Giovanni Sollima from Sicily (“Taranta Project”) and Sapo Perapaskero from Romania (“Turceasca”). Rounding out the program will be music composed by performing members of the Ensemble: “Shristi” by Sandeep Das from India, who plays tabla; “Muiñeiras” from “Cancionero Musical de Galicia” arranged by Cristina Pato from Galicia, who plays gaita; and “Ascending Bird” arranged by Colin Jacobsen, an American violinist, in collaboration with Iranian santur player Siamak Aghaei.

“Returning to Tanglewood, for us, is like coming home,” said Yo-Yo Ma. “It was at Tanglewood twelve years ago that a group of musicians from around the world first came together to form the Silk Road Ensemble. Then we were strangers, and many of us had only the language of music in common. Over the years, we’ve returned several times to develop new music. So Tanglewood is, if you will, the ensemble’s birthplace, and it remains an inspiration for us.”

Hailed by the Boston Globe as a one-of-a-kind roving musical laboratory without walls, the international Silk Road Ensemble draws its members from countries as distant and diverse as China, India, Spain, South Korea, Iran, Japan, Switzerland, Israel, and the United States.

Each ensemble member’s career responds to one of the preeminent artistic challenges of our times: to maintain the integrity of art rooted in authentic traditions while nourishing global connections. Many of the musicians first came together under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma at a workshop at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts in 2000. Since then, in various configurations, ensemble artists have collaborated on a diverse range of musical and multimedia projects, presenting innovative performances that spring from Eastern and Western traditions and contemporary musical crossroads. The Silk Road Ensemble has recorded five albums.

Under the artistic direction of Ma and the leadership of CEO and executive director Laura Freid, the Silk Road Project presents performances by the acclaimed Silk Road Ensemble, engages in cross-cultural exchanges and residencies, leads workshops for students, and partners with prominent cultural institutions to create educational programs and materials. Silk Road Connect, the Project’s multidisciplinary arts integration approach, inspires students and educators to make connections across all areas of their lives and studies. Developing new music is a central undertaking of the Silk Road Project, which has been involved in commissioning and performing more than 70 new musical and multimedia works from composers and arrangers around the world.

Tickets for the June 22 and 24 performances run from $20 to $99 and are available by calling 888-266-1200 or by visiting Tanglewood.