To meet the builder of the new Dublin gamelan instruments, and the members of the Yogyakarta royal family who are presenting these instruments as a gift to Dublin, I spent the summer in Java studying the Yogyanese-style gamelan, performing with local gamelan ensembles, and even learning to speak Indonesian!
Videos of the gamelan-building process, and my visit to the gamelan workshop with the sultan's brother, Gusti Yuda, can be seen here.
Upon my return from Java, I was appointed Director of the UCD Gamelan Orchestra. This student ensemble rehearse once a week, and finished their first term with a performance for the Indonesian Ambassador and the Vice-President of the University.
Work: Enharmonic Harmonics
Performers: Peter Moran
Venue: UCD Classical Museum, Dublin
Work: Entertaining Rama in the Garden (World Premiere)
Performer: Cathal Roche (sax), Emma Coulthard (flt), Anne-Marie O'Farrell (hp), UCD Philharmonic Choir
Venue: St. Mary's Church, Haddington Road, Dublin
Event: Soundtrack Vibes
Performers: NCH Gamelan Orchestra, with special guests The Hum
Venue: National Concert Hall, Dublin
Performers: UCD Composition Ensemble
Venue: National Concert Hall, Dublin
Event: NCH Gamelan 10th Anniversary Celebration (with special guests TBA)
Performers: NCH Gamelan Orchestra
Venue: National Concert Hall, Dublin