Please join us on Saturday, April 26, in Rosse Auditorium at 7.30 p.m. for the Kenyon Gamelan Ensemble's end of semester performance: Music and Film for Indonesian Gamelan Ensembles. The ensemble is under the direction of Professor of Music Maria Mendonça.
For the first time in six years, we will be performing on both our sets of Indonesian gamelan, the chamber Gamelan Degung from Sunda and the slendro set from Central Java. The program includes traditional pieces for both sets, alongside "Threnody for Carlos Chávez" by the American composer Lou Harrison (for viola and degung, featuring Kenyon gamelan member Elijah Lisboa '27) and "Ketawang Kasatriyan," by the popular Indonesian composer Nartosabdho (with guest singers Marcella Ma '27 and Benjamin Priestland '27).
The Kenyon premiere of the film "Goong: Sound Through Fire" (directed by Maria Mendonça, 2023) provides the connection between Java and Sunda, documenting the creation of Kenyon's large Sundanese gong (goong) in Sutarno's forge in Jatiteken, Sukoharjo, in Central Java (view the trailer). "Goong" was