Hudson Valley Gamelan Winter Performance Brings Sounds of Bali to Bard on December 16

Eighth Year of Performances at Bard College; Program Features Balinese Music and Dance ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Hudson Valley Gamelan (HVG) will perform its annual winter concert on Saturday, December 16 (snow date: Sunday, December 17), at Bard College. The program—featuring Balinese music and dance—begins at 8:00 p.m. in Olin Hall with a suggested donation of $10 (free for the Bard community). Presented by the Music Program at Bard, the program includes performances of traditional gong kebyar music, as well as Balinese dance. Special guest, I Nyoman Astita, noted composer and performer, joins the HVG for this performance. Gamelan is the name given to the traditional orchestras and ensembles of Java and Bali, which are made up primarily of percussion instruments. Bard College’s program in Balinese music and dance was established in 1998. The HVG comprises two ensembles in residence at Bard—Chandra Kancana (Golden Moon), composed of Bard students, and Giri Mekar (Mountain Flower), consists of members of the community at large and Bard faculty members. HVG artistic director I Nyoman Saptanyana is the cultural attaché at the New York Consulate of the Republic of Indonesia and the director of Dharma Swara, the New York–based Balinese gamelan ensemble that performed the epic Ramayana Ballet to sold-out houses at Manhattan’s Symphony Space. Nyoman’s wife, Ida Ayu Ari Candrawati, is choreographer of the dances for this performance. The ensembles play a set of gamelan gong kebyar instruments crafted from jackfruit wood, bamboo, and bronze by Pande Gabeleran, a gongsmith from Blahbatuh, Gianyar, Bali. These instruments are on permanent loan to Bard College, courtesy of Woodstock Percussion owner and CEO Garry Kvistad, who is one of 18 musicians to win a Grammy award for the 1998 recording of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians and also a member of the percussion ensemble Nexus. Kvistad’s founded Giri Mekar in 1988; it performed at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock and the Bardavon Opera House in Poughkeepsie before taking up residence at Bard. The first joint performance by Chandra Kanchana and Giri Mekar was in May of 1999. I Nyoman Astita was Giri Mekar's first teacher in 1988–89 The HVG welcomes new members. Rehearsals are held on Monday evenings at 9:00 p.m. in Room 305 of the F. W. Olin Humanities Building at Bard College. For information about the concert or joining the ensemble, call 845-679-8624 or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected]. # # # (11/27/06)

This event was last updated on 02-13-2007

Back to Top