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Event
Javanese Journey
June 14th, Show starts at 7:30pm, doors open at 7pm
After 33 years in Portland, Lewis & Clark College's Venerable Showers of Beauty community gamelan ensemble makes its first appearance at Headwaters Theater. For these performances of Javanese classical music, the ensemble will be directed by its former teacher, one of the world's greatest Javanese musicians, Ki Midiyanto, who teaches gamelan at the University of California at Berkeley and previously taught at Lewis & Clark College, where he directed the gamelan program for a decade. The concert also features a rare U.S. appearance by a pesindhen, the virtuosa female vocalists who sing beguiling solo parts over choral and instrumental accompaniment by the percussion orchestra.
Along with the sensuous, beautiful traditional music of gongs and other percussion instruments, voices strings, flute, and more, the concert offers a visual treat: the musicians will play handsome, century old bronze instruments handmade in Java, and will wear colorful batik costumes.
About Heni Savitri.
Heni Savitri began her study of sindhenan (female solo singing with gamelan) in 2002 and a year later won the competition for best singer in her native district of Wonogiri, Central Java. She entered the performing Art Conservatory in Surakarta in 2004, and began representing the institution on competitions the following year as well as performing shadow plays. Upon enrolling in the Indonesian Art Institute in Surakarta, she was selected as a singer for many recording of new faculty composition and traditional works, representing the academy in the 2008 international vocal composition in Jakarta.
About Midiyanto.
A puppet master (dhalang) from Wonogiri, Central Java, Midiyanto comes from a distinguished family of musicians and artists that go back multiple generations. Over the last 20 years he has taught and performed extensively in Java, the U.S., Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, including ten years in Portland, as the gamelan director at Lewis & Clark College. In addition to directing the UC Berkeley gamelan ensemble, Midiyanto has worked with the Portland ensemble as a visiting director since 2002.
About Venerable Showers of Beauty.
The VSB gamelan ensemble has presented hundreds of events throughout the Northwest in its three decades in Portland, many including dance or traditional Javanese puppetry (wayang kulit). Up to 30 performers play and sing in concerts, including students and community members from the Portland area. Its repertoire includes traditional and contemporary music in a variety of styles, ranging from poetic songs to ceremonial court repertoire, from quiet, meditative pieces to stirring battle music. Musicians observe traditional playing style: seated on the floor, wearing colorful Indonesian batik costumes. The beauty of the bronze instruments, hand-crafted in Java and most set in colorful, ornately carved teak cases, complements their ravishing sound. Hand made by traditional craftsmen in Semarang in Central Java, Indonesia, the historic set includes about 60 instruments, including two-string spike violin, bamboo flute, tuned gongs, various melodic keyboard instruments, marimba, and zither. Some of these beautiful instruments, including the great gong, are over a century old and true Portland treasures. Today we will be using half of this set, in the slendro tuning.
Venerable Showers of Beauty website: http://www.vsbgamelan.org
VSB on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Venerable-Showers-of-Beauty-Gamelan
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LocationThe Headwaters Theatre
55 NE Farragut St. # 9
Portland, OR 97211
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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