2011/12 Music Series

Gamelan Pacifica with Peni Candra Rini
Saturday, December 03, 2011, 8:00 pm
PONCHO Hall, 710 East Roy Street, Seattle, WA

$20 general, $15 seniors, $10 students and alumni (with ID)

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Event Summary

Concluding her one-week residence at Cornish College of the Arts, the talented young Javanese singer and composer Peni Candra Rini joins Gamelan Pacifica in a concert of traditional Javanese gamelan music as well as her original compositions.

Hailing from Surakarta, Java, Indonesia, Peni Candra Rini is one of the most important young artists in Indonesia performing as a “sindhen”—a female solo singer with a gamelan. As a teacher of vocal and musical composition at Institute Seni Indonesia, Surakarta, Peni believes strongly in the importance of preserving the musical traditions of Indonesia. She is an extremely versatile singer who has performed at numerous festivals and collaborated with artists from around the world. She has performed at the 2002 World Music Festival, the 2004 International New Jazz from Switzerland-Live at the Temple festival, and with the Geisser Mazzola Duo at the Indonesia Performing Arts Mart in Bali in 2005 and in Surakarta in 2007. She has collaborated with the Widosari Gamelan Ensemble from Amsterdam performing in the Netherlands at the Troppentheater, Amsterdam; Theater de Evenaar, Rotterdam; Rasa, Utrecht; and Korzo, Den Haag; and in Germany at the Kreuzkirche, Kassel. She has performed at the 2006 Java Jazz Festival, the Jakarta International Jazz Festival, the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the 2009 World Peace Orchestra, Jakarta, and at the “Festival de I’imaginare” in France. She performed in the multimedia theater piece I la Galigo directed by Robert Wilson with music by fellow Indonesian composer Rahayu Supanggah, and also appeared in Opera Jawa, directed by Garin Nugroho with music by Rahayu Supanggah. Peni Candra Rini is currently in residence at the California Institute of the Arts on a six-month grant from the Asian Cultural Council.

Founded in 1980, Gamelan Pacifica is among the finest ensembles in the United States devoted to the performance of gamelan music. It is an active and adventurous ensemble, with a reputation for creating diverse productions merging traditional and contemporary musical forms with dance, theater, puppetry, and visual media. The ensemble has performed at the Smithsonian Institute’s Festival of Indonesia, New Music Across America Festival, Vancouver New Music Society, On the Boards, Walker Art Center, Performing Arts Chicago, and elsewhere. Visiting artists who have worked with Gamelan Pacifica include some of the most notable artists of Indonesia including Sutrisno Hartana, Wayan Sinti, Didik Nini Thowok, Sri Djoko Rahardja, I Made Sidia, Endo Suanda, Dedek Wahyudi, Goenawan Mohamad, and Tony Prabowo. Gamelan Pacifica’s CD, Trance Gong (O.O. Discs) has received international acclaim.

Gamelan Pacifica Artist Director Jarrad Powell’s compositions have been performed and broadcast internationally and include pieces for voice, gamelan, various western and non–western instruments, electro–acoustic music, music for theater, dance and experimental film. His work also includes numerous cross-cultural collaborations, particularly with Indonesian artists, including the innovative music–theater pieces Visible Religion and Kali. He is also Music Director and composer for Scott/Powell Performance, a contemporary dance company formed in 1994 with noted choreographer Mary Sheldon Scott. Their most recent piece, Geography, was a National Performance Network Creation Fund Project, co–commissioned by the Myrna Loy Center/Helena Presents in partnership with On the Boards and the National Performance Network. Recent projects also include music for three short films by artist Robert Campbell: Tilt, Eidolon, and Delta of C16H22O4. Powell’s work has been commissioned by the Walker Arts Center, Performing Arts Chicago, On the Boards, Music in Motion, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Myrna Loy Center/Helena Presents, the National Performance Network and many individual performers. He has received numerous awards, including grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts International, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Paul Allen Family Foundation, 4Culture/King County, The Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs/Seattle, Artist Trust Foundation and the Creative Capital Foundation. Powell holds a B.A. in English and Religious Studies from Rocky Mountain College, a B.F.A. in Music from Cornish College of the Arts, and an M.A. in Music Composition from Mills College, where he received the Paul M. Henry award for excellence in music composition. His most recent recordings, Natural Selection and Stonehouse Songs are available from Present Sounds Recordings.