*Silkroad Ensemble featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant*
The Silkroad Ensemble joins forces with Grammy-winning vocalist and composer Cécile McLorin Salvant as the special guest for this rare performance that promises to be rich, surprising, and full of musical discovery.
Cécile McLorin Salvant returns to TO Live after rave reviews of her 2024 performance at Meridian Arts Centre. This time she is joined by the Silkroad Ensemble to explore connections across cultures and histories in a powerful fusion of improvisation, tradition, and unexpected musical turns. With family roots in Haiti and France, she brings a deeply personal perspective on cultural exchange, shaped by a lifelong experience of moving between languages, identities, and stories. For Salvant, Silkroad offers an exciting opportunity to engage with musical traditions beyond her own—ones she’s eager to learn from, challenge, and reimagine.
This bold collaboration began in 2023 with Salvant’s hauntingly original composition “Have You Seen My Man?”—a standout track on Silkroad’s American Railroad album, featuring Rhiannon Giddens and released on Nonesuch in 2024. The piece showcases Silkroad’s signature boundary-blurring artistry.
Featuring
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, vocals
- Maeve Gilchrist, harp
- Mazz Swift, violin
- Niwel Tsumbu, guitar
- Francesco Turrisi, frame drums, accordion
- Kaoru Watanabe, Japanese flutes and percussion
Event info
Run time: 90 minutes, no intermission
Ticket pricing
$56.50 - $112.50 additional fees may apply
Ways To Save
See more and save with package options designed to help you build your perfect season! Save 20% when you purchase tickets to two or more eligible shows.
Music package—pick two from:
• Canadian Golha Orchestra and Sepideh Raissadat
• Joshua Redman Quartet
• Minsoo Sohn - JS Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier
• Swing Into the Holidays ft. Caity Gyorgy & Christian Wiggs
• Yoann Bourgeois & Patrick Watson
• John Pizzarelli and Catherine Russell: Ella, Joe, and Oscar
• Emmet Cohen Trio
• Silkroad Ensemble featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant
• Gustavo Santaolalla
The Stage is Yours package:
• Mix and match any two shows from [TO Live’s 2026-27 season](tolive.com/season-26-27 "Link to TO Live's 26-27 webpage")
Looking for even more value? A limited number of 2-for-$50 tickets are also available on select performances throughout the season. Offer excludes ‘Twas the Night Before… and Gustavo Santaolalla, and is subject to availability.
Listen On Spotify
Hear the Silkroad Ensemble on Spotify.
Hear Cécile McLorin Salvant on Spotify.
Silkroad Ensemble
A Grammy Award-winning musical ensemble, Silkroad is a collective of artists representing dozens of nationalities, traditions and ideas, who use music and art to demonstrate how great beauty can emerge from great difference. The Ensemble strives to engage difference, sparking radical collaboration and music with a purpose, for a more hopeful and inclusive world.
Reviews
“In a groundbreaking experiment, Yo-Yo Ma enlisted musicians from the lands of the Silk Road to form a multiethnic touring ensemble performing the music of its members’ countries, bridging geographic and cultural boundaries with the universal power of music.” —Classical Voice
“Far-flung traditions entwine in often startling fusions.” —Strings Magazine
“Cécile McLorin Salvant’s musical vocabulary is a marvel.” —Associated Press
“You get a singer like this once in a generation or two.” —Wynton Marsalis, The New Yorker
“Salvant is rapidly moving beyond the boundaries of jazz, and I’m gonna follow wherever she leads.” —Stereogum
Saturday, April 17
7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
George Weston Recital Hall · 5040 Yonge St
Venue details →