Leadership
Matthew Dunning
Founder / Executive Director
Matt founded the original Buffalo Gamelan Club in late 2015 with a set of instruments shipped across the world from Java and a dream to bring the enchanting music of Indonesia to Buffalo. Matt started playing gamelan music in 2006 while living in Chicago, and developed a deep understanding of Javanese performance and cultural practices while living on Java from 2011-2013. Matt was the recipient of the Indonesian national Darmasiswa artistic residency scholarship twice. He has been fortunate to study with some of the best gamelan musicians in Java and the US including Darsono Hadirajarjo, Heri Purwanto, Wawan Sosodoro, Pak Hartono, Midiyanto, and Pak Kamso.
Guest Artists
I Gusti “Komin” Nyoman Daarta
Guest Artist Director and Composer
Komin hails from Pengosekan village on the Island of Bali and comes from a line of family musicians. His biggest musical inspiration was his own father, a poor but exceptional musician and teacher. In his youth Komin went to temples to watch his father play and started learning many instruments by watching other musicians. He started learning gender from his father at age 9. Komin and his brother played all over during their youth at puppet shows and ceremonies. Komin learned in the true Balinese way: at home, in the temple, and in the community through experiences with close family and friends. He became known as a virtuoso player with his own style and helped found one of the most famous Balinese performing arts ensembles: Cudamani. For the last 10 years Komin has been living in New York and teaching at various colleges such as Bard, MIT, Bucknell, Swarthmore, Queens College, and also in community groups such as Dharma Swara in NYC.
KRT Midiyanto
Guest Wayang Artistic Director
A renowned Javanese musician and dhalang (puppet master). Born in Wonogiri, a rural district in the southern part of Central Java, Midiyanto comes from a multi generational family of gamelan musicians and puppeteers. He attended SMKI performing arts high school and STSI, (now ISI) The Indonesian University of Arts in Surakarta. Over the last 30 years Midiyanto has taught and performed extensively in Indonesia, the U.S., Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. He has been featured in several documentary films and directed the gamelan for the Shadow Music of Java CD recorded at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Currently Midiyanto, teaches and performs as Lecturer and Director of Gamelan Sari Raras at UC, Berkeley.
I.M. Harjito
Guest Artist and guest Composer
One of the finest living Javanese musicians and a prolific composer of traditional and experimental gamelan pieces. Harjito is graduate of Indonesia’s state conservatory for the traditional performing arts, he worked closely with one of the major figures of 20th-C Javanese music, Martopangrawit. He has directed gamelan ensembles in Indonesia and the U.S. He is currently on faculty at Wesleyan University.
Heni Savitri
Guest Singer and Dancer
Heni is the foremost Javanese singer living in North America and is in high demand for performances of gamelan and wayang. In 2003 she won the competition for best singer in her native district of Wonogiri, Central Java. She entered the Performing Arts Conservatory in Surakarta in 2004, and began representing the institution in competitions the following year as well as performing in shadow plays. She currently lives in Berkeley California.
Wakidi Dwidjomartono
Guest Artist and guest Composer
Born in 1947 in Jagalan, Solo, Central Java. Although his parents and grandparents were not gamelan musicians, he was deeply inspired at a very young age by both his brother, the renowned Bapak Wakidjo Warsapangrawit, and the active musical neighborhood he grew up in. Pak Wakidi’s career has taken him from an early start in the Javanese classical dance world, to wayang orang, wayang kulit, and klenèngan. Many observers in and out of Indonesia agree that he is currently the top classical Solonese drummer practicing the art form.
Darsono Hadiraharjo
Mentor and Guest Artist
Darsono comes from a prominent family of music and theater traditions in Central Java, Indonesia, and is one of the most prominent musicians inside and outside Surakarta. At the royal court of Mangkunegaran, he serves as the main drummer for dances. In the surrounding villages, he is regularly featured as an accompanying musician at shadow puppet theater performances. Darsono has traveled widely as a teacher, performing musician, and puppet master (dhalang) in Europe, the United States, and Asia. Darsono has been appointed as an artist in residence at several US institutions, including Wesleyan University, Smith College, Tufts University, Bates College, and Cornell University. He believes that within the domain of the performing arts, there is a “mysterious property” that allows people from various backgrounds to naturally come together, transcend differences, and reach a deeper mutual understanding.
Heri Purwanto
Mentor and Guest Artist
Heri is a freelance musician in great demand as a performer and teacher in Java and the United States. He comes from a family of musicians and instrument makers in Wonogiri, Central Java. He graduated top of his class at the prestigious STSI music school in Surakarta. Heri has taught at UC Berkeley, The University of Washington, Earlham University, in Chicago with the Friends of the Gamelan, and in Buffalo with Sari Raras Irama. He plays all the instruments of the gamelan but is known for his drumming and his gendèr playing.. Many instruments that comprise the gamelan in Buffalo were built by Heri’s father, Pak Sarno.
Board of Directors
Nusantara Arts Strategic Planning Session with City of Light Consulting
James Abramson – President
Eileen Ruberto – Vice President
Usman Haq – Secretary
Kelly Miller-Schreiner – Treasurer
Riesa Avanti
Christine Marie
Mateo Taussig-Rubbo
Peter Theryo