The workshops are part of the Silk Road Project's Innovators in Tradition exchange program with musicians from Azerbaijan, China and India, funded in part by the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which fosters cultural exchange between the U.S. and countries worldwide.

Ma and company will kick off the tour with the premiere of Kuai Le, a new song by Osvaldo Golijov, during the Opening Ceremony of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai Stadium on October 2.

"As China heads toward the [2008 Summer] Olympics, ever mindful of [the slogan] 'One World, One Dream,' at the Silk Road Project we too are looking at and thinking about our one world," said Ma in a statement. "Participating in the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics, we are reminded that the heroes in our world come from many different places and many different walks of life." The ceremony will broadcast the ABC Family Channel on October 4.