In addition to our traditional keroncong repertoire this show will feature two new ensembles performing experimental music from Java: an electric keroncong group that incorporates elements of surf-rock, noise, and metal, and a new percussion ensemble playing groove-oriented accompaniment on a hybrid set of gamelan & western drum kit.
Compositions by Peni Candra Rini, I Wayan Sadra, Danis Sugiyanto, Zoel Mistortoify, and Andy McGraw.
We’ve been working on new recordings of Javanese experimental music adapted for electric keroncong, incorporating sounds of surf-rock, avant-noise, and metal to accompany Peni’s wild, beautiful singing!
Compositions by Peni Candra Rini, Danis Sugiyanto, I Wayan Sadra, and Zoel Mistortoify.
It’s being mixed and mastered by John Dieterich of Deerhoof, who’s cranking up the amps and the experimentalism for a sound unlike anything we’ve heard. We’re still working out when and how it will be released, but catch a preview at one of our upcoming shows!
Renowned Indonesian singer Peni Candra Rini presents a concert of new music from Java, ranging from new works for traditional instruments to avant-rock compositions from her new album produced by members of Deerhoof. Peni will be supported by Balinese master musician Gusti Sudarta and local Richmond musicians.
In addition to our traditional keroncong repertoire this show will premiere two new ensembles performing experimental music from Java: an electric keroncong group that incorporates elements of surf-rock, noise, and metal, and a new percussion ensemble playing groove-oriented accompaniment on a hybrid set of gamelan & western drum kit.
This is our only confirmed gig featuring the full range of this repertoire in Richmond before we head off to DC, Baltimore, and NYC, so don’t miss it!
Early show — doors at 6!
Compositions by Peni Candra Rini, I Wayan Sadra, Danis Sugiyanto, Zoel Mistortoify, and Andy McGraw.
Peni Candra Rini, our guest artistic director for this season, was recently featured in Voice of America Indonesia for the premiere of her composition commissioned by Kronos Quartet. In the associated youtube video, Kronos violinist David Harrington asserts:
When you think about the repertoire of music that has been written for string quartet since about 1770, there’s absolutely nothing like Maduswara…. My hope is that audiences will say “I’ve never heard a string quartet sound like that; I’ve never heard Kronos sound like that. But now…I want to learn more about Peni’s work.”
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!
The Kronos Quartet: Five Decades (David Harrington: violin, John Sherba: violin, Hank Dutt: viola, Paul Wiancko: cello) with special guest Indonesian composer Peni Candra Rini perform a selection from five decades of material in the Barbican Hall on Thursday 19 Oct. 2023 Photo by Mark Allan/BBC
Peni Candra Rini, PhD (b. 1983) is a renowned Javanese singer, composer, and faculty member at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts. In Spring 2023 Peni taught as a Visiting Fulbright Artist-Scholar at the University of Richmond. When visiting and touring the US, she completes residencies as guest-director of Rumput and Gamelan Raga Kusuma, and joins us in 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.
Renowned Indonesian singer Peni Candra Rini presents a concert of new music from Java, ranging from new works for traditional instruments to avant-rock compositions from her new album produced by members of Deerhoof.
Rumput premieres a performance of the Minotaur myth, reimagined by Richmond playwright 
