Contemporary | Suhirdjan: Reverberations

Sedulur Gamelan/Gamelan Sisters

Sedulur Gamelan/Gamelan Sisters consists of two interlocking wooden structures that reconfigure elements of traditional Javanese architecture through the De Stijl philosophical principles of neoplasticism to create an abstraction of an…

Gamelan Naga Mas

The gamelan ordered by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 1995 is currently housed at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The pelog set is actively played by Naga Mas. The gamelan…

19 Gongs

This set of 19 gongs, ranging from F# to c”, was commissioned by a Dutch percussionist. The gongs were made from iron sheet metal with a brass cap on the…

Multifoon Foundation

Sinta Wullur founded Multifoon Foundation in 1993 to stimulate the interaction between non-Western music and contemporary music. She commissioned a 12-tone chromatically tuned gamelan. The slenthem, demung, saron, and peking…

Giovanni Sciarrino

Pak Suhirdjan made the pelog section, 'Kaduk Raras', of the Montebello Gamelan. This complete Javanese gamelan has the unique characteristic--outside of Java--of being housed in its own open-walled pendopo. But…

Harvey Mudd College

Suhirdjan built the instruments for the HMC American Gamelan, currently in use in Claremont, California. It is a set of iron and brass instruments tuned to my own versions of…

Alan Zimmerman

I have no experience with gamelan as I am strictly a Western-style percussionist. However, I commissioned this unique instrument in order to perform Claude Vivier's percussion solo Cinq Chansons pour…