New York-based Gamelan Yowana Sari, 20 artists performing traditional Balinese music and dance for the Samara Dana gamelan, plus contemporary compositions by Dewa Alit, Michael Gordon, Kyle Miller, and Evan Ziporyn.
Tickets for students and youth are FREE. And join us after the performance to try out the instruments and talk with the performers!
Since forming in 2011, Gamelan Yowana Sari has been a performing Balinese Art Ensemble in residence at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, CUNY. Under the direction of Michael Lipsey and Fred Trumpy, Yowana Sari have toured Bali multiple times, studying and performing under the master composer and musician I Dewa Ketut Alit in Pengosekan, Bali. In 2024, the group commissioned new works from Michael Gordon and Evan Ziporyn and will perform them alongside compositions by Dewa Alit and Kyle Miller at PS21, Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival, and the MASS MoCA Summer Music Festival.
Dewa Ketut Alit is the leading Balinese composer of his generation, whose creative and collaborative approach to Balinese gamelan music has contributed to its worldwide popularity. New York’s Gamelan Yowana Sari have traveled to Bali and back to bring Dewa Alit and his work Pangenter Alit I Ketutto PS21.
Program:
Pendet Penyambutan — Traditional
Dancer – Miranda Danusugongo
Stones are the Flowers — Kyle Miller
Sea Salt — Michael Gordon
Pangenter Alit I Ketut — Dewa Alit
Dancer – Miranda Danusugondo
Aeriform Kite — Evan Ziproyn
American gamelan and new music pioneer Lou Harrison described the music as “a sonorous world of beauty that reaches from the bottom to the top of the audible range.”
Read Matthew Gurewitsch’s preview of the concert in AIR MAIL.
Since forming in 2011, Gamelan Yowana Sari has been a performing Balinese Art Ensemble in residence at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, NYC. Under the direction of Michael Lipsey and Fred Trumpy, Yowana Sari have toured Bali multiple times, studying and performing under the master composer and musician I Dewa Ketut Alit in Pengosekan, Bali. In 2024, the group has commissioned new works from Michael Gordon and Evan Ziporyn and will perform these alongside compositions by Dewa Alit and Kyle Miller at PS21, Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival, and MASS MoCA Summer Music Festival. Following these performances, GYS will return to Bali to study and perform with Dewa Alit’s Gamelan Salukat, as well as to record their debut album.
The trajectory of the ensemble has been exciting. They have performed at major festivals in the US, including the Percussive Arts Society International Convention 2017 in Indiana, the River-to-River Festival, Make Music NY Festival, and the Asheville Percussion Festival. GYS has a longstanding relationship with Midori and Friends and Queens County’s CASA (Cultural After School Adventures) program. The group works with public school students on team-building activities through gamelan-based percussion music. The music of a community, along with the teachers, allow the students to create music for cartoons and engage in other performance-related activities.
The gamelan has studied with I Dewa Ketut Alit, I Gusti Komin Darta, Ida Bagus Made Widnyana (Gusde), I Dewa Putu Rai, and I Dewa Sakura. The group’s interests encompass the rich traditions of Balinese compositions as well as contemporary works by composers such as Dewa Alit, Steve Reich, Michael Gordon, Evan Ziporyn, Gusti Komin Darta, Glenn Kotche, Billy Martin, Vivian Fung, Kyle Miller, Alida Torres, Chris Mulz and Pak Windha.
The PS21 PATHWAYS 2024 season is supported in part by the JM Kaplan Fund, and Anonymous in honor of Adèle Haenel.
