Performing a sample of traditional Cambodian dance at a press conference at PPAC to announce the Silk Road Project concert schedule are members of Angkor Dance Troupe.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

As Cambodian dancers glided about the lobby of the Providence Performing Arts Center, officials from the FirstWorks performance series yesterday kicked-off an ambitious educational program with members of the Silk Road Ensemble, the group of world musicians assembled a decade ago by acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

During the next three months, musicians from as far away as China will be visiting a half-dozen schools in the area, talking about their homeland and demonstrating some of their native instruments.

On March 4, high school and middle school students will be treated to an afternoon concert by Ma and the Silk Road players at the Rhode Island School of Design, where the innovative performing group is headquartered. Two days later, on March 6, Ma and the ensemble will launch their national tour at the Providence Performing Arts Center in an 8 p.m. program..

The concert marks a milestone for FirstWorks, which for the first time will be presenting year-round programming, rather than clustering its offerings in the fall. The group has done educational workshops in the past, but nothing as extensive as the program that begins today, said Kathleen Pletcher, head of FirstWorks.

“We’ve never done anything quite this big,” said Pletcher.

The musicians and dancers will be visiting schools in Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket and Central Falls.

The Silk Road Ensemble uses music and other art forms from countries along the famed, 5,000-mile Silk Road trading route that stretched from Japan to the Mediterranean. The idea behind the project is to bridge cultural differences through the arts.

On hand at yesterday’s press conference to promote the March 6 concert was Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline who said the diverse make-up of the Silk Road project was a “strong metaphor for the city of Providence” where an array of cultures co-exist.

Members of the Angkor Dance Troupe from Lowell, Mass., who will be taking part in the school workshops, appeared dressed in gilt costumes with pointed headdresses.

Missing from the event, though, was Ma, who appeared via a video during which he talked about how performers and teachers fill a similar roles.

“What they do is memorable,” said Ma, who is one of the few superstars of classical music. He will perform with violinist Itzhak Perlman and two other musicians on the steps of the nation’s capitol for the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

The March 6 concert will feature a new arrangement of a 30-minute Asian opera that is loosely based on the story of Romeo and Juliet. Silk Road musicians have produced a special abbreviated chamber version of Layla and Majnun, which is popular in the East and was first staged in Azerbaijan in 1908.

The set for the performance is being designed by Henrik Soderstrom, who graduated last year from RISD.

Pletcher said the organization is looking at the school residencies as a model for designing similar programs around the appearances of other “luminary artists.” She said there has already been “brisk interest” when it comes to tickets, which range in price from $37 to $79.

cgray@projo.com