Silkroad will launch its next flagship touring program, Sanctuary: The Power of Resonance and Ritual, on stages across the United States from March 10–28, 2026. The ensemble’s new emphasis is on community, collaboration, and healing.
Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens conceived Sanctuary as the second major initiative of her tenure. The program centers on how people turn to music for solace during conflict, uncertainty, and change.
Giddens leads the ensemble and appears alongside guest artists Mauro Durante and Mehdi Nassouli. Their musical backgrounds bring traditions of trance and communal rhythm into dialogue with Silkroad’s artists. The repertoire includes Southern Italian tarantellas, Moroccan Gnawa, and the interlocking grooves of Congolese fingerstyle guitar.
Each performance takes shape as a real-time musical response that the musicians learn orally, a process intended to strengthen connection onstage and in the hall. The program also draws on Indian classical music, Japanese folk songs, and American old-time practices to present ritual and trance as enduring human responses to an unsettled world.
The Sanctuary tour features a world-class roster of musicians, including Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens (banjo/vocals), Shawn Conley (bass), Sandeep Das (tabla), Haruka Fujii (marimba/percussion), Maeve Gilchrist (harp), Karen Ouzounian (cello), Mazz Swift (violin/vocals), Niwel Tsumbu (guitar/vocals), Francesco Turrisi (frame drums/accordion), and Kaoru Watanabe (Japanese flutes/percussion), together with talented guest artists Mauro Durante (tamburello/violin/vocals) and Mehdi Nassouli (guembri/vocals).
Tour Dates and Tickets
March 10, 2026
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH
Open-to-the-Public Programs:
All programs below are co-presented with Bowling Green State University.
March 8, 2026, at 3 p.m. ET
Silkroad @ The Library
Wood County District Public Library
March 9, 2026 at 7 p.m. ET
Discussion and Community Jam
Kelly Hall, Moore Musical Arts Center at Bowling Green State University
March 12, 2026
Indiana University Auditorium, Bloomington, IN
Open-to-the-Public Programs:
March 11, 2026 at 3:15 p.m. ET
Artists in Conversation with Dean Abra Bush
Auer Hall, Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University
March 15, 2026
Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago, IL
Open-to-the-Public Programs:
All programs below are co-presented with Harris Theater for Music and Dance.
March 13, 2026, at 7 p.m. CT
Sanctuary: A D-Compressed Gathering
In partnership with D-Composed and Rebuild Foundation
The Land School
March 14, 2026, at 11:30 a.m. CT
Community Jam/Dance
In partnership with Old Town School’s Music Moves initiative
Green Line Performing Arts Center
March 19-20, 2026
Presented by Cal Performances
Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley, CA
Open-to-the-Public Programs:
All programs below are presented in partnership with Oakland Public Conservatory of Music.
March 17, 2026, at 4 p.m. PT
Cross Cultural Music Workshop
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
March 17, 2026, at 6 p.m. PT
Screening of My Music with Rhiannon Giddens Episode and Q&A
Oakland Public Conservatory of Music
March 17, 2026, at 7 p.m. PT
Percussion Collective Panel & Community Jam
Black Arts Movement Business District – Community Development Corporation of Oakland
March 18, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. PT
Banjo/Fiddle Gathering
Latham Square – Uptown Downtown Oakland Community Benefit Districts
March 18, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. PT
String Collective Community Jam
Black Arts Movement Business District – Community Development Corporation of Oakland
March 22, 2026
Center for the Arts at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Open-to-the-Public Programs:
March 23, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET
Artists in Conversation: Silkroad Resonance Circle (Community Jam)
Co-presented by the City of Fairfax and the Center for the Arts at George Mason University
Stacy C. Sherwood Community Center
Free, but registration required
March 26, 2026
Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre, Rochester, NY
March 27, 2026
Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, Brookville, NY
March 28, 2026
McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, NJ
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central