PITT JAVANESE GAMELAN ENSEMBLE IN CONCERT Event Includes On-campus Dance Workshop

PITTSBURGH, March 4 -- University of Pittsburgh students will perform the rich and exotic music of Indonesia at the Pitt Javanese Gamelan Ensemble Spring Concert on Saturday, March 21 at 8 p.m. in Bellefield Hall, 315 So. Bellefield Ave., Oakland.

Concert tickets are available at the door for $5 general admission, and $3 for students and seniors. The event is free to Pitt students. In addition, guest performer Sri Susilowati, an Indonesian dancer and choreographer, will conduct a free workshop on Friday, March 20 from 3 - 4:30 p.m. in the Stephen Foster Memorial Social Room, located on the Memorial's lower level. Additional information about the guest performers is attached to this release.

Pitt is one of only 15 universities in the country with a gamelan -- an ensemble of large and small gongs, drums, and metallophones (xylophone-like keyed instruments) -- which, when played, produce the rhythmical music of Java, the main island of Indonesia. Pitt's gamelan was hand-crafted of wood and bronze in Java and shipped to the University two years ago.

Pitt students, not all of them music majors, who make up the 10-member Pitt Javanese Gamelan Ensemble perform the music of the Sundanese, the second-largest ethnic group in Indonesia. Under the direction of Professor of Music Andrew Weintraub, the students are being introduced to a culture on the other side of the world. "Through this music, which is very beautiful and enchanting, they learn the Sundanese language, history and politics," said Weintraub. For more information about the Friday afternoon workshop or Saturday evening concert, please call 624-4125.

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PITT JAVANESE GAMELAN ENSEMBLE GUEST PERFORMERS

Sri Susilowati

Dancer/Choreographer

A native of West Java, Indonesia, Sri Susilowata began studying classical Indonesian dance at age 7 and was performing at age 10. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in dance composition from the Indonesian Institute of Arts in 1990, and went on to serve as choreographer for the national rock music tour and film project Kantata Takwa. Susilowata moved to the United States in 1993, where she established an Indonesian dance studio. She has performed at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival and at universities and other venues across the country. Her work has centered on revitalizing and adapting the traditional concepts of Indonesian dance, as well as its rich vocabulary of movement. Her workshop is Friday, March 20 from 3 - 4:30 p.m. in the Stephen Foster Memorial Social Room.

Undang Sumarna

Musician

Renowned for his Sundanese drumming, Undang Sumarna learned the complex art from his grandfather, the legendary Abah Kayat, in Bandung, West Java. He teaches gamelan at the University of California, Santa Cruz, a position he has held since 1974. In addition to introducing hundreds of American students to Sundanese music, he has toured throughout the United States as an "Ambassador of Sundanese Arts." Sumarna will perform with the Pitt Javanese Gamelan Ensemble on March 21 at 8 p.m. in the auditorium of Bellefield Hall.