Rini joined Kronos for Maduswara, singing and playing the rebab…. Rini’s tradition is Javanese music, and Maduswara was an involving evocation of this. Rini’s writing for the quartet kept the traditional rhythms while opening up the textures so that every vocal inflection, bent note, and move from a pentatonic to a Western major scale—and back—had an extra expressive edge.
Photo by Peter McElhinney for Style Weekly
Peni and Kronos recently joined in a panel discussion at the University of Richmond regarding her composition and their process of adapting it. Andy asked her to sing a passage from it, and the effect was wondrous: the members of Kronos, no strangers to awe-inspiring talent, all spoke of being deeply moved by the power of her voice in close proximity, and began to think aloud about how that sensation might change their performance technique, to represent not just the “flotando” (floating, flute-like) timbre but also the deep resonance.
Update: the truly great news following this premiere is that Kronos has commissioned 4 additional compositions from Peni!
Peni Candra Rini, PhD (b. 1983) is a renowned Javanese singer, composer, and faculty member at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts. During the spring 2023 semester she will be teaching as a Visiting Fulbright Artist-Scholar at the University of Richmond. She will direct Rumput and Gamelan Raga Kusuma, and join us in multiple performances and recordings.
Raised in an artistic family in a small fishing village in East Java, Peni first began studying voice at the age of 5 under her father, a village shadow master. She later moved to the Central Javanese city of Solo to study at the Indonesian National Conservatory of the Arts, where she completed her doctorate and was hired as faculty in 2020. She is a master of several traditional forms and is regarded as one of Indonesia’s most daring young composers, one of only a handful of female composers in the majority-Muslim nation.
The Kronos String Quartet commissioned and is currently performing her latest chamber work, Maduswara, which they premiered this year at Carnegie Hall. She is a former recipient of grants from the Asian Cultural Council, a two-time grantee of the US State Department’s One Beat Program and in 2022 was named an Aga Khan Foundation laureate of the arts. She was a principal performer on our first major production and tour, Shadow Ballads, in 2016, along with past guest artistic director Danis Sugiyanto, Gamelan Raga Kusuma co-founder Gusti Sudarta, and folk duo Anna and Elizabeth.
Rumput premieres a performance of the Minotaur myth, reimagined by Richmond playwright Chandler Hubbard, with an original score composed by Danis Sugiyanto (Java), with artwork and puppets designed by Yuda Putra (Bali).
Prior to the evening performances Rumput will host a free, all-ages workshop on shadow theater.
All audience members must be fully vaccinated and wear face masks in Firehouse Theatre.
Continuing our fall tour featuring newly commissioned artworks from central Java: wayang beber (scrolling panorama) by Dani Iswardana and musical compositions by Rumput’s sometime guest artistic director and master teacher Danis Sugiyanto.
The darkness seeks the light of the sun as All the Saints Theater Company explores versions of hell while holding space for our childhood selves with love, humor, color, and puppets. For all ages, made with adults in mind. All the Saints is best known for founding the annual Halloween Parade through Oregon Hill. They create puppets for shows, streets, protests, and parades. They believe street puppets and story telling are mighty tools in the movements for social, racial, and environmental justice. Their larger-than-life puppets are blessed by the papermache gods and the gods of trash, cardboard, and bamboo.
Java and the rest of Indonesia are suffering record high deaths from COVID-19. Performers are barred from their livelihood, many are sick, and all are grieving. Proceeds from this show will benefit Javanese artists.
Continuing our fall tour featuring newly commissioned artworks from central Java: wayang beber (scrolling panorama) by Dani Iswardana and musical compositions by Rumput’s sometime guest artistic director and master teacher Danis Sugiyanto.
First Friday, a monthly opening-night reception for artists featured in the library’s galleries:
“Ellis Island Immigrants: Faces of America” by Sandra Nardone
“City Street Life: Seen by Three” by Steve Ferretti, Lisa Lezell Levine, and Ed Tepper
“Friends in the Streets: an artist’s view on homelessness” by Connie de Bordenave
Outdoor concert with Bulgarian-style female vocal quartet Orfeia and crankie artist Maura Dwyer. Catering by Java Cove
Orfeia is a woman’s vocal ensemble dedicated to preserving and sharing traditional music from Bulgaria and Eastern Europe. Orfeia’s repertoire spans the rich and diverse musical heritage of Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Russia and their neighbors. From traditional to sacred and from the Middle Ages to modern day, the captivating sounds of the Balkans emerge in beautiful melodies, and lush harmonies.
Maura Dwyer is an interdisciplinary artist making education and community-based murals and performance design elements, collaborative projects, and public art.
Premiering two newly commissioned artworks from central Java: wayang beber (scrolling panorama) by Dani Iswardana and musical compositions by Rumput’s sometime guest artistic director and master teacher Danis Sugiyanto.
Featuring stories and crankies by Baltimore’s beloved Katherine Fahey.
Java and the rest of Indonesia are suffering record high deaths from COVID-19. Performers are barred from their livelihood, many are sick, and all are grieving. 100% of proceeds from this show will go to Javanese artists.
Premiering two newly commissioned artworks from central Java: wayang beber (scrolling panorama) by Dani Iswardana and musical compositions by Rumput’s sometime guest artistic director and master teacher Danis Sugiyanto.
Featuring stories and crankies by visual artist Katy Dement, including a collaboration with poet and novelist Alex Rainey Ward.
Java and the rest of Indonesia are suffering record high deaths from COVID-19. Performers are barred from their livelihood, many are sick, and all are grieving. 100% of proceeds from this show will go to Javanese artists.
Peni Candra Rini, our guest artistic director for this season, has just premiered at Carnegie Hall a composition commissioned by Kronos Quartet as part of their 50 for the Future program. Congratulations, Peni! Sukses!
Rumput premieres a performance of the Minotaur myth, reimagined by Richmond playwright 
