Yo-Yo Ma pulls into Benaroya in Silk Road caravan

The long journey from the historic Silk Road to Seattle will be completed on Sunday, when the eagerly awaited Silk Road Project with Yo-Yo Ma and international musicians finally arrives at Benaroya Hall.

The programming for the five concerts epitomizes the term "diversity," with ancient and new music for all kinds of instruments from the historic trade routes uniting Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It won't all be unfamiliar and exotic-sounding music; each of the concerts features Ma in the performance of a well-known Western work whose composer was influenced by various sounds and musical structures of other Silk Road countries.

The ticket demand, not surprisingly, has been intense, and the presenting Seattle Symphony has taken the unusual step of adding stage seating for two performances, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday. These tickets are $80; returned subscription tickets for these and the other concerts will likely be available at the Benaroya ticket office two hours prior to the concerts (in-person sales only). Call 206-215-4747 for ticket info. Consult the Web site, www.seattlesymphony.org, for further details of Silk Road educational events, lectures and other presentations.

All concerts start at 7:30 p.m. on the Benaroya mainstage, and are preceded by 6:30 p.m. lectures — and followed by 9:30 p.m. post-concert talks, many featuring the musicians. Here are some programming highlights:

• Sunday: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma featured in A. Adnan Saygun's Partita; Ma with the Silk Road Ensemble in works of Vache Sharafyan and Franghiz Ali-Zadeh (with conductor Alastair Willis); Yang Wei in traditional Chinese pipa selections; the astonishing "long song" singer Khongorzul Ganbaatar in Mongolian Long Song; Ma in the Kodaly Sonata for Solo Cello.

• Monday: Ma in Zhou Long's "Spirit of Chimes," Joon-il Kang's "Hae-Maji Gut" and the Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2; traditional Iranian selections and Juan Del Enzina's "Levanta, Pascual, Levanta."

• Tuesday: traditional music of China (pipa selections) and Azerbaijan; Ma and ensemble members in the Debussy Cello Sonata, Da Qun Jia's "Prospect of Colored Desert" and Kayhan Kalhor's "Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur," plus Michio Mamiya's "Kio" and Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky's "Night Music: Voices in the Leaves."

• Wednesday: Ma and ensemble musicians, plus Seattle Symphony players, in Byambasuren Sharav's "Legend of Herlen," Zhao Jiping's "Moon Over Guan Mountains," Ali-Zadeh's "Habil-Sayagy" and Mamiya's "Five Finnish Folk Songs"; Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor.

• Thursday: This is the only Silk Road program featuring the full Seattle Symphony. The orchestra, with Jahja Ling conducting, joins in with works of Peter Lieberson ("The Six Realms," with Ma), Borodin ("In the Steppes of Central Asia"), Zhou Long ("Two Poems from Tang") and Respighi ("Ancient Airs and Dances" and "Fountains of Rome").

Strings and schemings

Don't forget: Today through Sunday is the debut mini-season of the new American String Project, with well-known string players from around the country joining director/arranger Barry Lieberman in conductorless string-orchestra performances of great string quartets and other repertoire. (Lieberman arranged many of the works to include his own instrument, the double bass.) It takes place in the string-friendly environs of the Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya, with three different programs tonight and tomorrow (7:30 p.m.) and Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.); call 206-789-4646 for tickets.

And two worthy casts are plotting and scheming the night away in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera," with the alternate Seattle Opera cast (Lori Phillips, Raul Melo and Genaro Sulvaran) singing at 7:30 tonight and the opening-night cast (Carol Vaness, Vinson Cole and Gordon Hawkins) taking over at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. Lots of strong, impassioned singing in the Mercer Arts Arena; 206-389-7676 or 206-628-0888.

Melinda Bargreen: mbargreen@seattletimes.com.