Cellist Yo-Yo Ma is cut out for a cross-cultural project.

He was born in France to Chinese parents and raised in the United States. Recognized as a child prodigy and having started performing at age 5, he traveled all over the world, meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures.

So, it seemed like a natural step for him to start an ensemble with a group of musicians from as many as 20 countries dedicated to bridging the East and West.

“You’ve probably heard of globalization. But what is this globalization in culture? If we live on one globe, how do we live together, but not lose our identity?” Ma said, explaining how he came to found Silk Road Ensemble 15 years ago.

The cellist, who serves as the ensemble’s artistic director, is in Korea for two performances ― one in Seoul on Tuesday and the other in Daejeon on Wednesday.

The Silk Road is an ancient trade route that linked two great civilizations ― China and Rome. Stretching from the Mediterranean to the Asia-Pacific, it now covers a population of 3.6 billion people. 

Ma said the ensemble was formed in the hopes of serving as a musical route through which the East and West can meet and build a better future together.

“We’re just a tiny drop in the bucket. But what we try to do is to experiment within this group of musicians to see if we can really work together, if we can trust one another, if we can create something together, even though we all came from different backgrounds,” he said.

The world we live in now is faced with many problems, from Ebola to climate change, that require people from different parts of the world to unite, he said.

“We can create the kind of cultural forces that show young people a way of collaborating together in order to solve the most difficult problems of this time,” he said.

What music provides, he went on to say, is access to the internal world of a different culture or the lives of people.

After 15 years with the ensemble, Ma said he personally believes that is possible.

In the upcoming concerts, the ensemble will play, among others, traditional music based on old Sufi stories that Ma says can offer a lot to 21st-century audiences.

“The old stories deal with wisdom ― a word that is not often used these days. But they are the stories of which we want to develop a better understanding,” he said.

The program includes “Night Thoughts” and “Saidi Swing” from the ensemble’s 2013 album “A Playlist Without Borders” as well as some traditional Korean music.

Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble will hold two concerts in Korea as part of its Asian tour commemorating the 15th anniversary of its foundation.

The Seoul concert will take place on Oct. 28 at Seoul Arts Center’s Concert Hall. Tickets cost 50,000 won to 180,000 won. For details, call 1577-5266 or visit www.clubbalcony.com.

On Oct. 29, they will perform at Daejeon Arts Center in Daejeon. Ticket prices start from 30,000 won. For details, call (042) 270-8333.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)