Gamelan Yowana Sari was founded in 2011 by Michael Lipsey and Fred Trumpy as a performing Balinese Art Ensemble in residence at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, NYC. They have toured Bali many times, studying and performing under master composer and musician Dewa Alit. The group’s interests extend across the rich corpus of Balinese music and contemporary works by composers such as Gusti Komin Darta, Vivian Fung, Glenn Kotche, Billy Martin, Steve Reich, Alida Torres, Chris Mulz, Pak Windha, and Evan Ziporyn.

The ensemble has performed widely in the US, with appearances at major festivals including the 2017 Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indiana, the River-to-River Festival, Make Music NY Festival, and others. Through Yowana Sari’s long-standing association with Midori and Friends and the Queens County CASA (Cultural After School Adventures) program, they have introduced gamelan-based percussion music to thousands of New York City public school students. Engaging in team-building activities grounded in gamelan musical traditions and practice, students and their teachers discover its rich history, create music for cartoons, and engage in other performance-related activities.

The PS21 PATHWAYS 2024 season is supported in part by the JM Kaplan Fund, and Anonymous in honor of Adèle Haenel.