Silk Road brings a musical interchange to Peabody Essex

SALEM -- Wu Man kneels on the floor of East India Marine Hall, the signature space of the Peabody Essex Museum before its dramatic expansion. The musician, born in China and now living in Winchester, wears traditional New England winter garb: rubber boots, jeans, a sweater. She holds her instrument, the four-stringed pipa, upright, braced against her legs, and plucks. Above her on the wall hang portraits of the rich 18th-century adventurers who founded the museum. The music booms through the room.

"Wow," Wu Man says, clearly taken aback by how much the sound resonates.

Kojiro Umezaki, standing next to her with his Japanese flute, has an idea. "Let's rock out," he says.

Just like that, Wu Man and her partners in Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project -- Umezaki and percussionist Shane Shanahan -- slide into an improvised piece. When they're done, a group of Silk Road and PEM staffers applaud.

The rehearsal done, the musicians pack up their instruments for the next stop, a gallery displaying Indian art. It's December at the PEM, and the Silk Road Project's collaboration with the museum is taking shape. The program, the first of its kind for Ma's multicultural venture, opens a two-week run starting on Tuesday. There will be only a few set performances. Instead, the heart of this project is a loosely scheduled series of performances rolling through the PEM during museum hours. There will be musicians, storytellers, and craftspeople, their mission to create art that responds to the PEM's collection. It's all free to visitors with paid admission to the museum.

The program is the latest twist in the Silk Road, the nonprofit program Ma created in 1998, which has led to a CD, a teacher's guide, and commissions for countless musicians from Armenia to Toronto. The PEM partnership is being called a pilot project, with Ma's staff hoping it will lead to collaborations with at least a half dozen other museums around the world in the next five years.

"This museum has just gone through this great transformation," says Ma. "The art collection is very interesting because so much of it is based on trade, and so much of what the [Silk Road] Project does is look at how objects and other things have moved across communities."

During this rehearsal, the world-famous cellist isn't around. He's been dropping by the PEM, but he's also been comfortable leaving the project in the hands of his staff. Milo Beach, the retired director of the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries, leads the musicians, storytellers, and craftspeople through the galleries, into auditoriums, and through lobbies. Then he listens.

Museums have long hosted performances in galleries and even held full-fledged concert programs. The difference here, Beach says, is the close relationship between the creative process and the works displayed by the museum.

"It's not just using the galleries as a performance space," says Beach. "This is creating works that couldn't exist if those works of art weren't there."

The Silk Road Project is named after the ancient trade routes between Mediterranean and Asian countries. The music produced under the organization's umbrella, including last year's CD, "When Strangers Meet," has been criticized by some classical music fans who wish Ma would stick to a more standard repertoire. But the multiculturalism at play makes perfect sense in the museum, the organizers say, considering the origins of its collection.

It was founded in 1799 by a group of wealthy explorers to house the spoils of their adventures. But with its expansion, the PEM is defined by a new wing designed by Moshe Safdie and by Yin Yu Tang, a 200-year-old house moved from China.

At the PEM, the performers have been finding a receptive audience. During rehearsals, members of the museum and Silk Road staff embrace virtually any musical improvisation. Some spaces are deemed poor for certain performances -- the large lobby connecting the new building with the old, for example -- but most of the museum tests well acoustically. And even in the lobby, there will be plenty to show off, as the area has been transformed into a kind of marketplace, complete with a storyteller and tentlike structures designed by Safdie.

In Marine Hall, before leaving for the next rehearsal, Shanahan shows off some of his chanting. After a short break, he leads a drum circle that includes Silk Road managing director Jean Davidson.

Maureen O'Gorman, who has come from Canada to view the PEM's maritime collection, finds herself mesmerized by the scene.

"You could hear it [from] downstairs," she says. "I couldn't stay down there any longer."

The Silk Road endeavor in Salem will cost about $500,000, which is being picked up by Ma's group, according to PEM spokesman Greg Liakos. The museum is offering free staff time, space, and marketing.

"A lot of museum directors might be concerned this would disrupt the galleries or throw off schedules," says Beach. "When I went to [PEM director] Dan [Monroe], he said, `There's no way we're not doing this.' "

Beach said he pushed the PEM to Ma because, as a veteran of the museum world, he knew about the dramatic, $125 million transformation that was taking place in Salem. He took particular note of Yin Yu Tang, the house moved from China's Anhui Province.

During rehearsals, Wu Man claimed a room on the house's second floor, sitting on a bed inside the cramped space to play her instrument. A bamboo thermos on a table reminded her of China, where she grew up, she said. She called this "her room" and played as Umezaki wandered through the narrow upstairs hallway and Shanahan settled on the ground floor in a chilly courtyard.

"This is the first time Japanese music has been played in a Chinese house," she joked after a piece. There will be more. The Silk Road performers are set to participate in a concert on Thursday, playing music to accompany a video presentation of two silk scroll paintings that are too long and delicate to be seen live. There will also be a panel discussion revolving around Yin Yu Tang on Saturday. It is already sold out. Still, the beauty of the project, organizers say, is in the improvisational performances.

On the rehearsal day, Wu Man and Umezaki settled in a gallery devoted to Indian art. The musicians had selected as their inspiration for a piece a contemporary sculpture featuring two linked figures standing back to back. The musicians replicated the couple's chemistry, mirroring their pose sitting only feet away.

"You ready for the argument?" asked Umezaki.

Wu Man nodded before leading him into an improvised call and response. They played for 10 minutes, rifling off notes, shifting tempos, dueling.

When they were done, Umezaki turned to face Wu Man. "We settle that?" he asked.

She nodded, and then they packed up for the next gallery.

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com