Tickets: $20 general admission, $15 seniors, $10 students, $5 Teen Tix
Free parking in the garage adjacent to Kerry Hall on Boylston St.
Gamelan Pacifica presents the third in a series of ongoing collaborations with two remarkable Javanese artists, Ki Midiyanto and Heni Savitri. Ki Midiyanto is a leading figure in Javanese music and has collaborated with Gamelan Pacifica on previous occasions, including music performances and performances of Javanese wayang kulit (shadow puppet theater). Heni Savitri is an outstanding psindhen (solo female vocalist) who will be making her third appearance with Gamelan Pacifica. This concert will showcase two renowned Javanese compositions, Gendhing Kagok Laras and Gendhing Renyep, as well as other compositions featuring psindhen and gerong (male chorus).
Gamelan Performers: Marguerite Brown, Noah Colbeck, Michael Dorrity, Stephen Fandrich, Ted Gill, Emily Hockel, Deena Manis, Anna McDermott, Troy Scheifelbein, Stephanie Shadbolt, Jesse Snyder, Dick Valentine, and Jarrad Powell (Director).
Ki Midiyanto is a renowned Javanese musician and dhalang (puppet master). Born in Wonogiri, a rural district in the southern part of Central Java, Midiyanto comes from a family of many generations of gamelan musicians and puppeteers. He attended the Sekolah Menegah Karawitan Indonesia (Indonesian Academy of Musical Arts) and Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia, now known asInstitut Seni Indonesia (Indonesian Academy of Musical Arts) in Surakarta before going abroad to teach and perform. Over the last 30 years Midiyanto has taught and performed extensively in Indonesia, the U.S., Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. He has been featured in several documentary films and directed the gamelan for the Shadow Music of Java CD recorded at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. during a two-month residency in 1991. Currently Ki Midiyanto, teaches and performs as Lecturer and Co-Director of Gamelan Sari Raras at University of California, Berkeley, and as a guest artist and instructor throughout the U.S., Indonesia, and internationally.
Heni Savitri began to study sindhènan (Javanese singing with gamelan) in 2002. In 2003 she won the competition for best singer in her native district of Wonogiri, Central Java. She entered the Performing Arts Conservatory in Surakarta in 2004 and began representing the institution in competitions the following year, as well as performing in shadow plays. Upon enrolling in the Indonesian Arts Academy in Surakarta she was selected as the singer for many recordings of new faculty compositions and traditional works, representing the academy in the 2008 international vocal competition in Jakarta. She has recently been performing with gamelan groups in the U.S., including at the Indonesian Consulate in New York, Tufts University, Cornell University, Indonesian Embassy in DC, Earlham College, Friends of the Gamelan Chicago, Sumunar Gamelan, Minnesota.
A professional ensemble-in-residence at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Gamelan Pacifica is directed by noted composer and Cornish faculty member Jarrad Powell. This concert is a partnership with the Music Department at Cornish College of the Arts.
Gamelan Pacifica is currently supported in part by sustaining funds from the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and 4Culture.