A total of 117 first- to fourth-year students will get to watch the Silk Road Ensemble at rehearsals and attend a session where they will get to interact with Ma and the Ensemble.

The Ensemble is made up of about 60 composers, artists and musicians from more than 20 countries. They come together to record or perform a few months each year.

Mr Dirk Stromberg, a faculty member from the School Of The Arts' faculty of music, says: 'The whole ensemble is made up of great musicians. It will be a real experience for the students to meet them, and I think they are really excited.'

Swiss-American percussionist Mark Suter, 43, who has performed with the Silk Road Ensemble since 2000, says: 'When Yo-Yo works with younger students, he is amazing. You are just amazed watching him work his magic and pull out the inner musician in every one.'

Ma's Silk Road Project, of which he is artistic director, is a non-profit and educational organisation whose vision is to connect the world by bringing together artists. The project is relocating its headquarters to Harvard University, where Ma graduated with an anthropology degree in 1976.

He is particularly exuberant and enthusiastic when he speaks of upcoming plans for it. 'I love working with undergraduates who are around 20 years old. They are incredibly open and it's a time where they begin to define themselves,' he says.

His current concert tour is the final in a series of performances which will mark the Silk Road Project's 10th anniversary.

'This is especially exciting for us because the places we are visiting have deep roots in the kind of exchange that happened along the Silk Road,' he says.

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