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HUMANITIES WEST PRESENTS

Venice to Xanadu:
Marco Polo’s Silk Road

MAY 4 AND 5, 2001 HERBST THEATRE, SAN FRANCISCO

presented in cooperation with the Silhroad Foundation,

Center for the Pacific Rim of the University of San Francisco and its Ricci Institute,
The Italian Cultural Institute, and the Mechanics’ Institute Library

'Venice to Xanadu: Marco Polo’s Silk Road

FRIDAY, MAY 4 VENICE TO XANADU

8:00 pm (performance) Uzkeki Dance LAUREL VICTORIA GRAY (Silk Road Dance Company,

Washington, D.C.)

8:10 PM (lecture) Rediscovering the Silk Road The "Silk Road," so named only in the nineteenth
century, was a web of dozens of unpaved routes connecting India and China with the Mediterranean and
Europe. Marco Polo traveled across one vast Mongol-ruled territory. Today it is divided into thirteen
countries and many more cultural zones. S. FREDERICK STARR (The Nitze School Central Asian Institute,
lohns Hopkins University) assesses how the legacy of the past will affect its prospects for the future.

9:00 PM Intermission

9: 1 5 PM (performance) Musical Legacies of the Silk Road (SEE INSERT)

9: 1 5 PM Music From Marco Polo’s Venice ROY WHELDEN (vielle), PETER MAUND (percussion),

CHERYL ANN FULTON (medieval harp)

9:35 PM Azerbaijani Dance LAUREL VICTORIA GRAY (Silk Road Dance Company)

9:40 PM Music from Medieval China and Mongolia WANG HONG and ZHAO YANG-OIN (Melody

of China)

10:00 PM Throat Singing From Tuva: PAUL PENA

SATURDAY, MAY 5 MARCO POLO'S SILK ROAD

10:00 am (lecture) Mummies to Marco Polo: Perspectives on the Silk Road DR. ALBERT E. DIEN (Stanford
University) surveys the territory through which the Silk Road passes, where influences of the great civilizations
of the East and West — China, India, Rome and Byzantium — mixed with the native ways of life to produce a
hybrid, eclectic mix of religions, cultures and artistic traditions. We view early Bronze Age mummies, the
beginnings of the Silk Road, the emergence of oasis kingdoms, and the eventual decline and isolation of that
area as sea trade replaced camel caravans.

11:10am (lecture) Marco Polo and other Early Travelers to China PROFESSOR MORRIS ROSSABI
(Columbia University): The thirteenth-century Mongols expedited and encouraged trade and travel between
East and West, permitting Western merchants, craftsmen, and envoys, for the first time, to journey to China
and Mongolia. Colorful and lively accounts include the writings about and of the famous Venetian merchant
Marco Polo, missionaries john of Plano Carpini and William of Rubruck, and craftsman Guillaume Boucher.
Rabban Sauma, a "reverse Marco Polo," was a missionary/diplomat from China who met with the Pope and
the Kings of England and France.

Noon-1 :30 pm Break for Lunch

1:30 PM (lecture/performance) Costume and Dance from Central Asia LAUREL VICTORIA GRAY (Silk
Road Dance Company) presents sumptuous costuming and spirited dance traditions of Silk Road cultures.
Historically accurate Azerbaijani, Kurdish, and Bukharan costumes include authentic embroidery and
weaving Ms. Gray collected on her travels to the East and reflect painstaking efforts to preserve traditional
dress in the face of rapid change due to exposure to the West.

2:35 PM Break

2:45 PM (lecture) The Exchange of Princely Gifts Across the Silk Road LAUREN ARNOLD (research
associate, Ricci Institute of the Center for the Pacific Rim, University of San Francisco): Medieval diplomats
and merchants alike would give and receive lavish gifts as they established foreign contact. Marco Polo
presented "fine vessels of crystal and other things" to Khubilai Khan. Franciscan monks followed in the
trader's footsteps at the Yuan court. The princely gifts that were exchanged, and artistic influences, can be
detected in paintings from both China and the West.

3:30 PM Stretch break

3:35 pm (panel discussion) Did Marco Polo really reach China? DR. )OHN M. SMITH (U.C. Berkeley)

moderator

2 ^

HUMANITIES WEST

Musical Legacies of the Silh Road

May 4, 2001

PROGRAM NOTES

1 . Musfc From Marco Polo's Venice

Roy Whelden (vielle), Peter Maund (percussion), Cheryl Ann Fulton (medieval harp)

Lamento de Tristano & La Rotta Anonymous, London, Brit. Lib. Add. Ms 29987

Via bombyci arr CAF

Lauda selections Anonymous Italian, 13th century

In Pro Anonymous, London, Brit. Lib. Add. Ms 29987

The middle point of Marco Polo's life falls on one of the landmark dates of European music history^: the
beginning circa 1300 of the ars nova. The musicians of the ars nova explored new territory in the fields of
rhythm, meter and polyphony. Interestingly, Italy, and Venice in particular, seem to have been a generation
behind western Europe in the development of this new music.

The ars nova drew away from the tradition of monophonic music. Composers turned away from the
antiquated traditions of the 13th century (troubadour, trouvere, cantiga, lauda) to concentrate on polyphony.
But not, immediately, in Italy. The production of lauda (devotional songs) continued in Italy well past that
landmark date of 1300.

While it is easy to point out the landmarks in the history of music from the perspective of seven centuries, in
fact, the demarcation of musical styles is fuzzy. A case in point is the (predominately) monophonic dance
form known as estampie (France) or istampitta (Italy). The earliest examples come from the middle of the
13th century in manuscripts of French provenance (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds frangais 844)
The latest examples, written in ars nova rhythmic notation, are from 14th century' Italian manuscripts
(London, British Library, Additional 29987). It is not surprising, perhaps, to find the monophonic tradition
surviving as dance music. The practitioners of dance music would often be the jongluers (instrumentalists),
a class of musicians who learned and transmitted their art by oral tradition-a kind of music making that
tends to be conservative.

We have combined these different traditions (lauda and istampitta) to give a representative sample of Italian
music in the early 14th century. We offer four instrumental dances. The first is based on the lauda Gloria in
cielo (performed instrumentally), which is then turned into an istampitta (specifically, into an istampitta and
rotta — a characteristically Italian arrangement; the rotta is a fast variation on the ]ust heard istampitta). We
perform two 14th century dances from the 29987 manuscript: Lamento de Tristano and In Pro. The first of
these is another istampitta- rotta pair. The second is a single istampitta, but one of very complex structure
and character. The remaining piece, Via bombyci, is our own construction. There are only two or three dozen
extant medieval instrumental pieces. Modern musicians wishing to play medieval music are often forced to
write it themselves, either using fragments of 13th and 14th century music (the istampitta Gloria in cielo is
based not only on the lauda Gloria in cielo but on fragments of orphaned lauda) or composing the music
from whole cloth, using one’s knowledge of the extant examples.

|A final note: istampitta Gloria in cielo was written and performed by |ann Cosart and the ensemble Altramar.
With their permission, we transcribed the music from their Dorian Recording Nova Stella. This felt fair, since
Altramar has been using one of our pieces for years-Le premier estampie, which we reconstructed from a
fragment in fonds frangais 844.1

2. Dance From Central Asia
Laurel Victoria Gray

lim Grippo (Kanun and oud); Susan Rudnicki (doire and tombak ). Amy Cyr (nay)

8:00 PM MUNODZHAT

Munodzhat is a lament to God and the title of a poem by 1 5th century poet Alisher Navoi. The dance itself,
set to classical Uzbek music, can be interpreted on two levels. One is the stor>' of a young woman who is
forbidden to marry the man she loves. She prays for her deliverance from this situation and, in her despair,
hallucinates, thinking she sees her beloved before her. She dances ioyously, only to realize that the
apparition is just that — an illusion. She then surrenders to her fate. On a spiritual plane, Munodzhat
symbolizes the search for the “beloved/’ the Sufi allegory for union with the divine.

Choreography by People’s Artist of Uzbekistan, Ishar Akilov

9:35 PM THE DANCER OF SHAMAKHA

This dance is based on the eponymous book by Armen Ohanian, who describes her life at the beginning of
the twentieth century in the Caucasus and Persia. The town of Shamakha, now part of Azerbaijan, was
famous for two things — silk and dancing girls. “Glorious in all Asia Minor" Ohanain explained, “these dancers
wandered from city to city, kindling all hearts with the music of their tinkling ornaments. . .Goddesses with
languid eyes, in which smoldered the fires of all human passions, bodies trembling, waving delicate veils."
The music is a traditional Azerbaijani wedding dance melody, and the costume is based on a 19th century
watercolor of a dancer from Shamakha.

Choreography by Laurel Victoria Gray

3. Melody of China

Wang Hong (multi instruments) and Zhao Yangqin (yangqin)

Horse Racing (Mongolia)

Lanterns Festival (North China)

Joyful Xinjiang People
(Northwest China — Uighur area)

Music by Hai Huai
Erhu solo; Wang Hong

Folk Music

Bahn solo: Wang Hong

Traditional, arranged by Zhao Deming
yangqin solo: Zhao Yangqin
dapu (hand drum): Wang Hong

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TIBET

A PARTIAL TIMELINE OF THE SiLK ROAD UP TO THE TIME OF MaRCO POLO

3200 Bc Horse domesticated on south Russian Steppe

3000 BC Silk first produced in China

2500 BC Domestication of the Bactrian and Arabian camel, vital
for desert travel

900 BC Spread of mounted nomadism

753 BC Rome founded

400 BC Empire of Alexander the Great expands into Asia

300 BC Roman expansion begins

Parthians establish their empire in Iran

Qin dynasty unites China for the first time

200 BC Han power reaches Tarim region. The Silk Road under
China's control and the route to the West now open.

100 BC Mithridates, Parthian king, sends ambassadors to both
Sulla and Wu-ti to provide an important link
between Rome and China.

1 AD Silk first seen in Rome

Kushan Empire of Central Asia. Sogdians trading on
Silk Route.

Chinese General Pan Ch’ao defeats Xiongnu and keeps
the peace in the Tarim Basin. The stability of the
silk road popularizes the caravan trades into two
routes — north and south.

China sends the first ambassador to Rome from Pan
Ch’ao’s command, but he fails to reach Rome.

Graeco-Egyptian geographer, Claudius Ptolemy, writes
his Geography, attempts to map the Silk road.

100 AD Rome sends the first Roman envoy by sea to China;

Roman Empire at its largest and a major market for
Eastern goods.

The four great empires of the day — the Roman,

Parthian, Kushan, and Chinese — bring stability to
the Silk Road.

200 AD Silk is woven into cloth across Asia, but using Chinese
thread.

Han dynasty ends, China fragmented.

300 AD Constantinople becomes Rome’s capital. Roman
Empire splits in two.

Dun Huang caves start to appear.

Fa-hsien, a Buddhist monk, and one of the first
known Chinese Silk Road travellers sets out to
India by foot.

A Chinese princess smuggles some silkworm eggs out
of China. Silkworm farms appear in Central Asia.

500 AD Silkworm farms appear in Europe.

Nestorian Christians reach China.

Split of the Turkish Kaganate into Eastern and Western
Kaganates. Western Turks move to Central Asia
from Mongolian Plateau. At the Chinese end of
Central Asia, the Eastern Turks or Uighurs are in
control. Sui Dynasty reunites China.

600 AD Roman Empire becomes Byzantine Empire

For the first two centuries, the Silk Road reaches its
golden age. China very open to foreign cultural
influences.

Islamic religion founded; Sassanian P^ia falls to the
Arabs; Muslims control Mesopotamia and Iran,
along with the Silk and Spice routes.

700 AD Arabs conquer Spain in Europe, which introduces
Eastern technology and science to Europe.

Arabs defeat Chinese at Talas — papermaking

introduced to West; Tang dynasty begins to decline,
and with it, the Silk Road.

800 AD Venice established as a city-state.

Gunpowder invented in China.

1 100 AD Genghis Khan unites Mongols, expansion of Mongol
Empire begins.

Silk production and weaving established in Italy.

1200 AD Genghis Khan dies; Friar Giovanni Carpini leaves Rome
for Mongol capital at Karakorum. Friar William
Rubruck sent to Karakorum by the King of France;
Silk Road trade prospers again under the "Pax
Mongolica"; Kublai Khan defeats China and
establishes the Yuan dynasty.

Marco Polo leaves for the East.

1300 AD Turkish Ottoman Empire in power; Tamerlane with
capital in Samarkand rises and conquers Persia,
parts of Russia and northern India

Third silk road route appears in the north; Ibn Battuta,
the first known Arab travels on a journey to China
via the Silk Road.

The Black Death spreads throughout Europe

Mongol Yuan Dynasty collapses.

1400 AD Death of Tamerlane leads to the decline of Mongol
power; Ottomans conquer Constantinople.

Fearing the power of Uighurs, Ming China reduces the
trade and traffic dramatically on the Silk Road.

The Silk Road comes to an end for purposes of silk;
Lyon becomes the new center of the silk trade.

1800 AD German scholar, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen uses
the term "Silk Road" (Seidenstrasse) for the first time.

Thanks to Albert Dien, Adela Lee and Pat Bassett.

BIOGRAPHIES “VENICE TO XANADU”

LAUREN ARNOLD'S academic background is in medieval
history and art history, with degrees from the University of
Michigan. Her professional background includes museum
administrator, book editor, and manager of an art gallery.
Princely Gifts and Papal Treasures: The Franciscan Mission to China
and its Influence on the Art of the West 1250-1350 was published by
the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, part
of the Center for the Pacific Rim at the University of San
Francisco, in 1999. She and a colleague rediscovered the
painting of the "Heavenly Horse," thought to have been lost
for over two hundred years.

ALBERT DIEN attended Washington University, the Univer-
sity of Chicago, and the University of California, Berkeley; his
degrees are all from the latter. He has taught at the University
of Hawaii, Columbia University and Stanford. Since retiring
from Stanford seven years ago he has been to China as a
member of delegations, attending conferences, leading tours,
and for his own research. He is at present completing a volume
on the material culture of the Early Medieval period in Chinese
history (220-589 ad). He has participated in conferences in
China at Dunhuang (1994) and at Kucha (1977) and taught a
month-long workshop for 30 students at Dunhuang (1998).

^ 3

BIOGRAPHIES continued

LAUREL VICTORIA GRAY has taught and performed
throughout North America, Europe, Central Asia, and Australia.
Specializing in the cultures of the Silk Road, Ms. Gray has
traveled to Uzbekistan ten times, living there for two years.
She has taught at George Mason University, the Iranian
Community School, and has lectured at the Middle East Insti-
tute, UCLA, Occidental College, and other universities. Her
research articles have appeared in the Oxford University Press
international Encyclopedia of Dance, the Wor/cf Encyclopedia of
Contemporary Theatre. Dance Magazine, and numerous Middle
Eastern dance publications. She was the recipient of the 1999
International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance Award for
Ethnic Dance. Ms. Gray currently teaches at loy of Motion in
Washington, D.C.

MORRIS ROSSABI, born in Alexandria, Egypt, moved to the
U.S. when he was ten years old. His Ph.D. is in Chinese and
Inner Asian history from Columbia University. He is author of
Kfiubilai Khan: His Life and Times (University of California Press,
China Among Equals (University of California Press), Voyager from
Xanadu (Kodansha), Bounty from the Sheep (Cambridge Press),
and other books and articles, including the essays on China’s
relations with Inner Asia in all volumes of the Cambridge
History of China. 1200-1800. He contributed catalog essays for
exhibitions at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (1995)
Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998 and 2001). He is on the
Board of Advisors of the Soros Foundation projects on
Central Asia and a recent recipient of Soros Foundation
Individual Project Fellowship. He is currently Professor of
Chinese and Inner Asian History at City University of New
York and Columbia University.

JOHN MASSON SMITH, JR. is Professor emeritus. History
Department, University of California, Berkeley. He studied at
Harvard (AB) and Columbia (MA, PhD) and taught Middle
Eastern and Inner Asian history at Berkeley, 1962-93. His
research has centered on imperial Mongol history (thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries). He has written many articles on
Mongol coinage, demography, diet, logistics, strategy, tactics
and weaponry — e.g. "Dietary Decadence and Dynastic Decline
in the Mongol Empire," journal of Asian History. 34 (2000). He
has traveled for research in most of the Middle East, to con-
ferences in Russia and Mongolia, on tour in Uzbekistan, and
passing through Beijing.

S. FREDERICK STARR, a historian, educator, musicologist
and jazz musician, taught at Princeton and founded the
Kennan Institute in Washington before serving as Vice Presi-
dent of Tulane University and, for eleven years, President of
Oberlin College. He now chairs the Central Asia-Caucasus
Institute of the Nitze School. Johns Hopkins University in
Washington DC, and is planning a new university for the Aga
Khan. Starr took part in the October 2000 Humanities West
program Nw Orleans 1900 as a speaker and a jazz clarinetist.

CHERYL ANN FULTON is America’s premier performer of
historical harps as well as an inspiring and popular performer
of Celtic and contemporary music on lever harp. Her first solo
album. The Airs of Wales, performed on an original Welsh triple
harp, brought her international recognition. A member of
Ensemble Alcatraz, she has performed and recorded with
many of today’s leading early music ensembles in the US and
abroad. Her medieval harp choir, Angelorum, performed on
the latest Ensemble Alcatraz CD Cantigas de Amigo. Dr. Fulton
holds a D.M. in early music from Indiana University.

A native of San Francisco, PETER MAUND studied per-
cussion at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; tabla
at the Ali Akbar College of Music; and music, folklore, and
ethnomusicology at the University of California, Berkeley
(A.B., M.A.). As a Ph.D candidate at Berkeley, he specialized in
the music of north India. He has performed and recorded with
various early music, contemporary music, and world music
ensembles throughout North America, the U.K. and Europe, in-
cluding Alasdair Fraser’s group Skyedance, Davka, Chanticleer,
Ensemble Project Ars Nova, Paul Hillier, Quaternaria, and
Hesperion XX.

While searching for a language program on short-wave radio,
singer/songwriter PAUL PENA chanced to hear throat-singers
from Tuva. Fascinated, the blind singer first searched for
someone to explain what he had heard, then taught himself
the technique. A touring throat-singer invited him to visit
Tuva and participate in a competition. Pena, accompanied by
an independent film maker, went and won the competition.
The resulting documentary, "Genghis Blues" was nominated
for an Academy Award in 1999. The attention has sparked a
new interest in an album from 1973 that was never released.
"New Train" was released in 2000 and has won much praise.
Born in Massachusetts to a family with roots in Cape Verde,
Africa, Pena studied flamenco guitar in Spain and Portugal.
He has learned Cape Verde Creole, Spanish, Korean, Chinese,
lapanese and a little Tuvan.

WANG HONG is a member of Chinese Nationalities Orchestra
Society, Artistic Director of Melody of China, a music
educator, composer and performing artist. Under the sponsor-
ships of world music festivals he has performed and lectured
in Europe and the Far East. Wang Hong is a graduate of
Nanjing Normal University’s Music Department where he
studied er-hu (Chinese fiddle) and Huqin (Chinese 2-stringed
instruments). He is a member of the Chinese National
Orchestra Society, the Chinese Musicians Association, and
former Board Director of the Chinese Wind Instruments
Society. At present, he is a Chinese instruments instructor at
Laney College at Oakland, San Francisco Community Music
School and active participant in the educational program
Young Imaginations in Marin County.

ROY WHELDEN, a trumpet player from the age of seven
and cellist from twelve, discovered the viola da gamba while
a graduate student in music theory. Studies of the gamba
and medieval vielle eventually led to a D.M. from Indiana
University. Whelden has performed and recorded with ensem-
bles from around the United States and Europe, including
Sequentia and Ensemble Alcatraz. Since 1986, he has per-
formed with American Baroque and recorded with them his
own compositions: Galax and Like a Passing River. A recipient of
a grant from California Arts Council in the year 2000, Whelden’s
current compositional projects include the completion of a
multi-movement work titled journeys.

ZHAO YANG-QIN is the hammered dulcimer soloist of
Melody of China and member of Chinese Nationalities
Orchestra Society. Prophetically named, she has established
herself as one of the foremost yangqin (Chinese dulcimer)
performers in the world, having been elected to the presti-
gious Chinese Musicians Association and the Chinese
Nationalities Orchestra Society. In 1982, she graduated with
honors from Nanjing Normal University’s Music Department
and eventually became head of the faculty of instrumental
music of that university. Ms. Zhao has been invited to perform
and lecture throughout the world.

0^ ^ 0^

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PAGE 7

HUMANITIES WEST 2000-2001 SEASON

MICHELANGELO’S WORLD OCTOBER 12-13, 2001

A giant of the Italian Renaissance, indeed of Western civilization, Michelangelo Buonarroti has left an unparalleled
legacy of brilliant, highly personal art, architecture, and poetry. His frescoes in the Vatican Palace and his architecture
and sculpture for St. Peter's Basilica have linked the name of this passionate Florentine patriot inextricably with the
Eternal City of the popes, where he spent nearly half of his eighty-nine years. Excellent speakers will reexamine some of
il divino Michelangelo’s greatest works in light of stimulating recent scholarly and scientific discoveries. A program of
secular and sacred music enriches the cultural, political, and religious backdrop of Renaissance Rome.

ONE HUNDRED YEARS IN BARCELONA FEBRUARY 8-9, 2002

Barcelona stands unique among the great cities of the world. Its cultural singularity is owed to Catalan pride; its beacon
to the traveler is manmade beauty against a landscape blessed by sun, wind and sea. The journey into Barcelona's past
begins with the story of the fiercely independent Catalonian spirit, captured by traditional Catalan music Friday
evening. Saturday, experts explore the mid- 1800s to the early 20th century, when the beautiful medieval city was trans-
formed by visionary urban planners. They view with us the city of art nouveau through works of the writers, artists, and
architects who called Barcelona home. Highlighted is the incomparable architecture of master Antoni Gaudi.

ANCIENT EGYPT: SPLENDORS OF THE NEW KINGDOM MAY 3 1-lUNE 1 . 2002

Europeans rediscovered ancient Egypt after the incursion of Napoleon. In the nineteenth century, the unearthing of the
Rosetta Stone and the magnificent artifacts of King 'Tutankamon's tomb lure writers and artists as well as archeologists
to Egypt. Friday evening’s program reveals how ancient Egypt inspired and transformed Western art, from furniture, archi-
tecture and design to the operas of Giuseppe Verdi. Saturday, distinguished speakers from across the country illuminate
the lives and beliefs of the great pharoahs; view glorious architecture, art and technology of the realm 3500 years ago;
and show exciting recent excavations on the Nile.

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« 7

HUMANITIES WEST recommends...

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HUMANITIES WEST

Spring 2001 « exploring history to celebrate the mind and the arts »

VENICE TO XANADU:
MARCO POLO’S SILK ROAD

May 4 and 5, 2001
Merest Theatre, San Francisco.

presented in cooperation with the The Silkroad Foundation,

University of San Francisco, Center for the Pacific Rim and Its Ricci Institute,
the Italian Cultural Institute and the Mechanics’ Institute Library

"... there never was a man, be he Christian or Saracen or Tartar or Heathen, who ever travelled over so much of the world as did that noble and illustrious
citizen of the City of Venice, Messr Marco the son of Messr Nico/o Polo."

— The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East.

The name "Silk Road," Seidenstrassen, was first applied by the
19th century German geographer, Ferdinand von Richthofen,

(yes, uncle to the infamous Red Baron) to this trade route of
antiquity. Both Greeks and Romans referred to China as 'Seres’,
and it is from this that the word silk is derived.

The Silk Road was in actuality a network of routes evolving
over centuries, but it was in essence a trade route linking the
East with the West, a journey of about 7,000 miles. Silk was the
main export from China, sought by the Romans for their "glass
togas" and driving the trade routes extensions until the secret
of making the fine silk thread and cloth was transferred to
Europe via Byzantium. Once the secret itself travelled the trail.

Continued on Page 6

. SOi

Antioch
ihatmyra

. . Lake Balkaih'

Sea r'-turfan'"

^ Kashgar )

Bokhara |

Yellow
Soa

Ch'ang-ar
-(Sian)

THE SILK ROAD THEN AND NOW

FRIDAY EVENING, S. Frederick Starr discusses life in the thirteen countries crossed by the Silk Road today.

Fred Starr, Chairman of the Central Asia Studies Center of the Nitze Institute of lohns Hopkins
University, was the very popular Saturday afternoon lecturer and guest clarinetist at HW’s
"New Orleans" program in October. SATURDAY, travel across Asia and back in time with
distinguished scholars. From medieval Venice all the way to Cathay, the wondrous exotic trails
still have the power to draw us.

FRIDAY EVENING, enjoy music from Marco Polo's Venice and across Central Asia, culminating
in world music master Paul Pena's performance of Tuvan throat-singing, an ancient art that now
captivates audiences in the West as well as East.

VENICE TO XANADU IN MUSIC

See HW advance ticket purchase order form, page 7

Friends of HW Special Events

Save tfie Datesl

Pre-Program Stops on the Silh Road

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28 7:30 pm
Music of Venice
at Old St. Mark's Cathedral

The Italian Cultural Institute presents
Quartetto d’Arcfii di Venezia in concert,
music by Boccerini, Malipiero, Maderna
and Verdi. $10 Friends of HW, $15 gen-
eral public. St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1111
Gough Street (at Geary), San Francisco.
Tickets and reservations 415/788-7142.

THURSDAY, APRIL 12 6:00 pm-7:30 pm
Three Cities of the Silh Road

loin us for a slide-illustrated talk by
Frank Rettenberg, who recently returned
from a tour of Central Asia. He is a
retired foreign service officer and
member of the World Affairs Council and
HW Board of Directors. Mechanics'
Institute, 57 Post Street 4th Floor. FREE
to Friends of HW; $5 for the general
public. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
415/391-9700.

TUESDAY, APRIL 17 6:00 pm-7:30 pm
Tuva Calling

This slide-illustrated journey to Tuva
includes a live demonstration of throat-
singing and the musical instrument the
Igil. Presenters Seth Quittner and Lemon
DeGeorge will describe music and
musicians of 'Tuva; the Tuvan country-
side, people and culture; and Tuvan
shamanism. They include personal
accounts about the Bai-Taiga region,
where both of them spent time living
with nomads in yurts.

Lemon DeGeorge is a Bay Area musi-
cian and recording engineer. He was
one of the main characters in the Qscar-
nominated film “Genghis Blues," as
well as the sound recordist on location
in Tuva. DeGeorge recorded and co-
produced the CD "Genghis Blues" in his
studio in San Francisco. Seth Augustus
Quittner is a Bay Area musician and
graphic designer. He first heard
throatsinging in 1998, soon became a
student of Paul Pena's and has since
studied with several Tuvan Masters. He
does four styles of throatsinging and
plays the Igil, a 2-stringed, bowed Tuvan
instrument.

This program is FREE and open to the
public. San Francisco Main Library Koret
Auditorium (Grove and Larkin streets).
Presented in cooperation with the San
Francisco Public Library. Seating is unre-
served. For information call 415/391-9700.

Message from the Chair

Dear Friends of Humanities West:

Congratulations to all connected with Rome in the Year One. It was one of our
most successful programs in recent years, and we are especially grateful to
Diane Middlebrook, a member of our Advisory Council, for her work in
organizing and moderating this excellent program.

Now that we have studied life in Ancient Rome, it is time to turn our
attention to the Silk Road. Venice to Xanadu: Marco Polo’s Silk Road is the final pro-
gram in our seventeenth season, and it allows us to link two areas — Venice and
Asia — that have each been the subject of several Humanities West programs
over the years. Like many of our presentations, the Silk Road program repre-
sents the flowering of an idea that has been under discussion for some time.
Special thanks go to Charles Bowman, our Secretary/Treasurer and a member
of our Board, for his efforts in organizing this program.

1 am also pleased to report that we received an enthusiastic response to the
program preference survey that was distributed at the Year Qne program. As
experienced attendees of our programs know, we distribute these surveys only
once every two years, and we give them great weight in planning our programs.
Although a three-line description can only begin to do justice to most of the
program ideas, 1 think the survey conveyed a good sense of how rich many
of the 14 program ideas could be. We will be using the survey results as we
begin to plan the programs for our nineteenth season, which will begin in the
Fall of 2002.

Finally, as you now know from Nancy Buffum's letter, she will be leaving her
post as Executive Director at the end of our current fiscal year to spend more
time with her young family. Nancy has served as our Executive Director for
nearly seven years, and we deeply appreciate the skill, energy, tact and tenacity
that she has brought to her work. We are now in the midst of searching for a
new Executive Director, and we recognize that the challenge of recruiting an
equally able successor will be substantial. Qn the other hand, we also know that
Humanities West has a track record of presenting excellent programs and
enjoys widespread audience support, and we are sure that those things will help
us in attracting excellent candidates.

Sincerely,

HW seeks Executive Director

The Board of Directors is recruiting a new Executive Director for
Humanities West, a 17-year-old non profit presenter of public cultural
programs with an annual budget of $220K. The Executive Director is
responsible for program development, production and marketing;
audience and resource development; management and budget
administration. He/she works closely with the Board of Directors, and
is assisted by the Associate Director, Advisory Council, contractors and
volunteers. Required: mature, creative individual with excellent verbal
and writing skills, able to adhere to tight performance deadlines; proven
record of achievement in the arts and humanities. Salary commensurate
with experience. Cover letter and resume to: Search Committee.
Humanities West 57 Post Street #8 1 4, SF, CA 94 1 04.

« 2 »

Message from the Executive Director

Humanities West, Future Vision

There is much to look forward to at Humanities West. Vemce To Xanadu: Marco Polo's
Silk Road (May 4 and 5 at Herbst Theatre) has been long awaited by many of us.
Next year's season includes three programs audience members rated highly on
the 1999 audience survey: Michelangelo, Barcelona, and ancient Egypt. As the
future program survey at 'Rome' indicates, there is no shortage of topics in the
history of arts and ideas to bring humanities lovers to Herbst Theatre for many
years to come.

1 am especially pleased that with the help of local colleges and universities,
the California Classical Association, the San Francisco Unified School District,
and you, donors to Humanities West, that more teachers and students are now
coming to HW programs. HW continues to do our part to foster an informed,
intellectually curious citizenry and offer a public place for exploring history to
celebrate the mind and the arts.

1 would like to see a full theater every program, with Friends of HW subscribing
and bringing your friends; cooperating institutions introducing new audiences
to our programs; and a portion of the seats reserved for students and educators.

As you see from the notice of a search for a new Executive Director, 1 am
leaving my position this summer, after this my seventh season. 1 look forward
to spending more time with my children. I also look forward to staying active
with Humanities West, where 1 have learned so much and made so many friends.
I'll see you at Herbst Theatre!

Nancy Buffum

HW Board Notes

We would like to welcome longtime HW donor and season subscriber lay Wiener
to the HW Board of Directors. Jay Wiener is a lawyer in San Francisco. He received
his B.A. in History from Reed College and his ).D. from the University of Mississippi,
his home state. In addition to his interest in art, literature, and music, he is an
accomplished mountain climber and cross-country skier, just this year becoming a
World Loppet Master, upon his completing his tenth international cross-country
ski marathon. Jay's primary civic involvement, at present, is the organization of an
international architectural competition, through the San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art, to investigate how ecological requirements and new technologies will reshape
mountain huts.

WEDNESDAY, April 4 5:45 pm

Orville Schell (journalist and Dean of the
Graduate School of Journalism at U.C.
Berkeley) in an armchair interview with
Marsha Vande Berg (Editor, Tfie World
Report) "Focus on U.S.-China relations on
the eve of China's accession to the WTO."

APRIL 11,2001 5:45 pm

"Korea: Asia's New Miracle in the 21st
Century" a talk by Dr. Patrick Lloyd

Cooperating Institution Events

Hatcher (Kiriyama Distinguished Scholar-
in-Residence at the University of San
Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim).

Both events take place at University of
San Francisco, Lone Mountain Campus,
Room 100, 2800 Turk Street (between
Masonic & Parker) and are co-sponsored
by University of San Francisco Center
for the Pacific Rim and Its Ricci Insti-
tute and the Commonwealth Club of

Many thanks to these generous 2000
Appeal donors, whose donations in part
support the young scholars program.

Susan Arnesen
Helene Baribault
James ].& Caroline Boitano
Charles Bowman

Joseph Dellert/The Artisans Picture Framing

Rene di Rosa

Maria DiDomenico

Henry T. Donahoe

Rev. Richard Fabian

Margaret Feldstein

J. Gordon Frierson, M.D.

Sara Garrison and Tim Bever
H.M. Hale
Todd Hansen

Charles and Susie Hanson

Mildred and Malcolm Holliday

Earl G. LeDet

Tim Madsen

Eleanor Matheu

Lynn A. McGowin

Marne Good &• Brian McHugh

Thomas & Janet McKinley

Charles and Nancy McLaughlin

Patricia S. Miller

Dr. & Mrs. Nicholas L. Petrakis

Richard Raymond

Bob Reader

Phyllis Brooks Schafer

Marion Schwartz

Dr. Amy R. Sims

Dr. Nancy C. Sprotte

Barbara Willenborg

Kublai Khan

California. FREE and OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC. Reservations recommended;
call (415) 422-635. Other programs also
available: ask for a schedule.

* ♦ *

The Silkroad Foundation presents
lectures, classes and forums at Stanford
University Inner Asia Study Center,
www.silk-road.com.

« 3 »

VENICE TO XANADU: MAHCO IT)EO’S SIEK HOAD

Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Street (at McAllister), San Francisco

FRIDAY, May 4 8:00 pm-10:I5 pm VENICE TO XANADU

5:30-7:30 PM Speakers Dinners open to HW Sponsors, Patrons and Fellows: see order form page 7

8:00 pm S. Frederick Starr (The Nitze School Central Asian Institute, )ohns Hopkins University)

Rediscover the Silk Road Today

9:15 PM Musical Legacies of the Silk Road

Guest performers take us from 14th century Venice to the inner reaches of Asia. The exotic instruments,
melodies and costumes rediscovered evoke the wonders Marco Polo and other early European trav-
elers may have experienced on the journey to China six hundred years ago.

Music From Marco Polo's Venice Cheryl Ann Fulton (medieval harps), Roy Wheldon (vielle). Kit Higgin-
son (recorder, psaltry), Peter Maund (percussion): medieval estampies and saltarellos, an instrumental
version of a lauda, and pieces from Francesco Landini.

Dance From Central Asia Laurel Victoria Gray (Silk Road Dance Company) dazzles with traditional
rhythms and movement.

Throat Singing From Tuva: world music master Paul Pena first brought this amazing art to the world's

attention in the movie "Genghis Blues."

SATURDAY, May 5 1 0:00 am-4:00 pm

10:00 AM Albert E. Dien (Stanford University)

MARCO POLO’S SILK ROAD

Mummies to Marco Polo: Perspectives on the Silk Road

1 1 : 1 0 AM Morris Rossabi (Columbia University) Marco Polo and other Early Travelers to China

Noon-1 :30 PM BREAK for lunch: to reserve your place at Friends Luncheon see page 7

1:30 PM Laurel Victoria Gray (Director, Silk Road Dance Company, Washington, DC)

Traditional Costume, Music and Dance from Central Asia

2:40 pm Lauren Arnold (independent scholar)

The Exchange of Princely Gifts Across the Silk Road

3:35 PM Panel Discussion

Did Marco Polo really reach China?

RETHINK YOUR GIVING—

CONSIDER STOCKS AS A DONATION.

Contribute some of your holdings to Humanities West. You get
a tax deduction for their full current value and avoid capital
gains tax and commission charges! Talk to your broker about it!

Traditional Costume, Dance and

Music From Central Asia
1 :30 PM Saturday at Herbst Theatre

The sumptuous costuming and spirited dance
traditions of Silk Road cultures are a vital part of
world dance history and practice. The visual feast
of historically accurate costumes displayed in
this lecture/demonstration include Azerbaijani,

Tadjik, Kurdish, and Bukharan. Laurel Victoria Gray
(Artistic Director, Silk Road Dance Company Washington,
DC) collected authentic embroidery and weaving on her
travels to the East; her costumes reflect painstaking efforts
to preserve traditional dress in the face of rapid change
due to exposure to the West. Dancers model the costumes
and demonstrate dance movements from each region.

« 4 »

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