Javanese Gamelan and Dance Spring Concert

Saturday, May 3, 2025 at 7:30pm
World Music Hall

Free and open to the public

Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff can RSVP on WesNest, but reservations are not required.

The Wesleyan Javanese Gamelan Ensemble, under the direction of Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Sumarsam MA ’76 and University Professor of Music Harjito, presents a spring concert of the classical music and dance of Central Java, featuring Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Dewati Rahmayani from the Royal Palace of Yogyakarta, and the world premiere of two commissioned works by composer Jlin, one of which will be performed live by the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble.

Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) has quickly become one of the most distinctive composers in America and one of the most influential women in electronic music. She has collaborated with Philip Glass, Björk, and the Kronos Quartet; and worked across disciplines with choreographer Kyle Abraham, fashion designer Rick Owens, and visual artists Nick Cave and Kevin Beasley. During the summer of 2024, Jlin, Sumarsam, and Harjito collaborated to record the individual sounds of each instrument of the gamelan—both for use in Jlin’s work, and to create the first open-access digital library of Wesleyan’s gamelan sounds. Over the 2024–2025 academic year, Jlin was commissioned to create two new compositions using these digital recordings: a score to be played live by Wesleyan Javanese Gamelan Ensemble musicians, and an electronic composition.

Students in the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble focus on the direct, hands-on experience of performing Central Javanese gamelan music, augmented by occasional discussions and the showing of documentary films. Since 1983, Wesleyan has owned a set of gamelan instruments from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, a donation to the University from Louise Ansberry. The use of some of the instruments in the gamelan date back to the 12th century. Today, the magnificent orchestra includes colorful bronze gongs and metallophones, wooden xylophones, drums, bowed- and plucked-string instruments, flute, and vocalists. The gamelan accompanies Indonesian feasts, ceremonies, and dances. The Wesleyan gamelan study group had been in existence since the late 1960s, before the Center for the Arts opened in the fall of 1973.