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Gamelan Pacifica began in 1980 at Cornish through an instrument building workshop and today is a full-fledged independent ensemble and non-profit arts organization. It is among the first ensembles to develop the resources to create and perform gamelan music in the United States.

Gamelan music originated in Indonesia and Gamelan Pacifica not only explores the music of Indonesia but also explores gamelan as a new compositional resource and a form of musical expression. The ensemble has a reputation for creating diverse productions merging traditional and contemporary musical forms with dance, theater, puppetry, and visual media. Many contemporary musicians interested in non-western music, have viewed gamelan as a natural outgrowth and an extension of the "drums along the Pacific" percussion movement that started in the late 1930s by American composers John Cage and Lou Harrison. In 1981, Harrison became Gamelan Pacifica's first significant guest composer and after a week-long residency, a concert featuring the premier of Harrison's Scenes for Cavafy was performed.

As a non-profit organization, Gamelan Pacifica has received funding from major granting organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts. The ensemble has also been recognized by the Smithsonian Institute's Festival of Indonesia as one of three sites to bring notable artists from Indonesia together to collaborate on music, dance, and theater projects. In 1994, Gamelan Pacifica released a CD titled Trance Gong which received international acclaim.

Gamelan Pacifica's Jarrad Powell has been directly involved with Javanese gamelan music as a composer, director, and performer. He has collaborated with many noted Indonesian artists and created compositions and theater pieces that are considered landmarks in the gamelan movement in this country.

The concert planned for April 6-7 will include innovative new works for Javanese gamelan and a new work for an experimental set of Balinese-style instruments built recently in Seattle under the direction of I Wayan Sinti. Special guest performers will include Sutrisno Hartana, and members of Gamelan Sekar Jaya, the Balinese gamelan from the Bay Area directed by composer Wayne Vitali.

Gamelan Pacifica: Celebrating 25 Years of Gamelan in Seattle
April 6-7, 8 pm
PONCHO Concert Hall at Kerry Hall, 710 East Roy Street, Seattle
Tickets: $15 general; $7.50 students, alumni and seniors
Free to the Cornish community
For tickets contact Ticket Window at (206) 325.6500, www.ticketwindowonline.com or at Ticket Window box offices located at Pacific Place, Broadway Market, Pike Place Market, Bellevue's Meydenbauer Center