Korea and Lebanon June 2004: Yo-Yo Ma meets students in Master Classes and in concert. See photos of CultureConnect in Seoul and Beirut. Learn more

Yo-Yo Ma and the National Symphony Orchestra joined the Iraqi National Symphony's first concert in America. Playing beautiful pieces by Iraqi and Western composers, they enjoyed learning from each other. Learn more

Cultural Ambassador Yo-Yo Ma visited Vilnius, Lithuania, for a two-day visit in June 2003. As CultureConnect Ambassador, he met with young students to establish dialogue between the United States and Lithuania through music. With his own established program of intercultural music study, called the Silk Road Project, Mr. Ma brought a unique ability to hear and see both distinctions and universal qualities in the music of other cultures. Brian Sexton, Senior Advisor of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State&#151and one of the initiators of the CultureConnect program, joined Mr. Ma on the trip.

Between scheduled appearances in London, England, and Cologne, Germany, Ma made time for the trip to Vilnius on June 15. The highlight of his visit was conducting Master Classes for cello students at the Lithuanian Music Academy. CNN television's "Business Unusual" traveled with Mr. Ma throughout the visit and made a short documentary about it.

See photos from this trip on the Photos page Learn more

Coming soon: more news and a videoclip from CNN's documentary!