Category: News

2023 Gamelan Workshops at Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre

Gamelan & Wayang (Shadow Puppets) Workshop and Performance

At Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre,

7646 Prince Albert St., Vancouver V5X 3Z4

After vacuum for over three years, the Vancouver Community Gamelan Society (VCGS) come back and this time with special guest teacher from Indonesia (including Dr. Sutrisno Hartana and other guests/members of the VCGS) to offer free workshops for Javanese Gamelan and/or wayang (shadow puppets) on September 2 and 9, and 16th respectively.

Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre Location
Map of Workshop Location

This workshop and performance are suitable for everyone who interested to learn, explore, and collaborate with our special guest teacher from Indonesia. This workshop and performance offers people a unique opportunity to discover different concepts of musical tuning system and performing arts tradition from another culture

What is gamelan? Gamelan is an Indonesian traditional orchestra ensembles largely consisting of gongs and keyed percussion instruments, originating from the island of Java and Bali.

Suitable for young students and adults (families are welcome!), this workshop combines East and West music and arts practices including traditional and contemporary Gamelan, as well as wayang shadow puppet such as how to manipulate puppets, explanation of their characters, gestures, and dialogue for both orally and “kinesthetically” responses.

Wayang workshop at Moberley Community Centre Vancouver, Canada

Sutrisno on far right, is shown explaining musicians at one of the previous workshops for gamelan and wayang held at Moberly Arts Centre, Vancouver, BC. Canada.

Post-Doctoral Plans and Projects

Dr. Sutrisno Hartana has been living in Vancouver, Canada for 20 years while maintaining his career through teaching part time at universities (the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University, among others) and performing. See examples on this website by clicking here.

He is searching for a full time teaching position either at a university or college of arts while also looking for publishers/sponsors/collaborators who are interested in publishing his writing or presenting his works.

Sutrisno offers a performance/workshop for gamelan and/or wayang, for families, schools, and communities in Canada and elsewhere. He also provides an online tutorial based on his knowledge and expertise described above. To find out more about Sutrisno’s work please enjoy these video documents of performances that he is involved in as a composer, instructor, artistic director, puppeteer (dalang) and performer.

Read More About Dr. Sutrisno Hartana’s Dissertation “Origins, Journeys, Encounters: A Cultural Analysis of Wayang Performances in North America”.

PhD Graduation

Congratulations to Sutrisno Hartana upon the completion of his doctoral degree in Art History and Visual Studies from the University of Victoria, Canada. The graduation ceremony will be held in June 2017.

Sutrisno Hartana (or Pak Tris, as many of his North American students call him; or Sute Laoshi, a nick name well known by many students/colleagues from universities in China) is a native Javanese performing artist, master gamelan teacher/gamelan tuner, puppeteer (dalang), arts collaborator, scholar/researcher of wayang (Indonesian puppet plays), and art historian. The topic of his thesis is the changing nature of Indonesian shadow puppet plays (wayang) with a focus on performances held in North America. Although the number of wayang performances in North America are significantly fewer in number than in Indonesia, they are very important because the influence of North American culture and technology has had a profound effect on wayang performance and contributed to the internationalization of Indonesian shadow puppet theatre. Sutrisno has made a significant contribution to the scholarly documentation and analysis of wayang performances in North America with the publication of his dissertation.

Read More About Dr. Sutrisno Hartana’s Dissertation “Origins, Journeys, Encounters: A Cultural Analysis of Wayang Performances in North America”

Sutrisno now plans to sell his set of Javanese gamelan instruments located in Java, Indonesia. Please see the page describing the gamelan by clicking on this link. However, if an educational institution is interested in starting a gamelan program, Dr. Hartana would be happy to teach using his gamelan.

Please contact Sutrisno for more information, or to assist in supporting his on-going artistic activities and his work directing and teaching community gamelan.

He is also accepting donations and in order to thank you for your generous contribution, Sutrisno would like to offer you the opportunity to download his dissertation or receive a CD copy of his compositions played on a Javanese style gamelan.

Donate Using PayPal Now!

paypal.me/SHartana

Click the link above, or type the text into your internet device, to visit a page where you can donate any amount to assist Sutrisno reach his goal. Thank you for any amount you are able to contribute!

Thank you for your kind attention. To find out more about Sutrisno’s work please enjoy these video documents of performances that he is involved in as a composer, instructor, artistic director, puppeteer (dalang) and performer.

Regards,

Ibu Victoria

Consulate General of Indonesia Gamelan Announcement

The Indonesian Consul General, Sri Wiludjeng, attended both the final performance at SFU School for the Contemporary Arts in Vancouver and the opening of the wayang exhibit at the SFU Museum of Ethnology and Anthropology in Burnaby.

Opening remarks by the Indonesian Consul General, Sri Wiludjeng, complimented SFU on their support of Indonesian culture and education. A short speech at the Museum concert on April 1, 2016 was by the President of SFU Andrew Petter and at the April 16th concert Martin Gotfrit, Dean of Undergraduate Studies opened the Vancouver show.

The Indonesian Consulate in Vancouver website has a story about their involvement with these events.