Beginning Javanese Gamelan Ensemble Fall Concert

Thursday, December 11, 2025 at 6:00pm
World Music Hall

Free and open to the public.

Beginning students from Wesleyan’s Javanese Gamelan Ensemble, under the direction of Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Sumarsam MA ’76 and University Professor of Music I.M. Harjito, present a fall concert of the classical music of Central Java.

Students in the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble focus on the direct, hands-on experience of performing Central Javanese gamelan music, augmented by occasional discussions and the showing of documentary films. Since 1983, Wesleyan has owned a set of gamelan instruments from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, a donation to the University from Louise Ansberry. The use of some of the instruments in the gamelan trace their origins back to the 12th century. Today, this magnificent orchestra features colorful bronze gongs and metallophones, wooden xylophones, drums, bowed- and plucked-string instruments, flutes, and vocalists. Traditionally, the gamelan accompanies Indonesian feasts, ceremonies, dances, and other significant events including Independence Day celebrations and concerts sponsored by various institutions. The Wesleyan gamelan study group had been in existence since the late 1960s, before the Center for the Arts opened in the fall of 1973.