Sekar Jaya’s gong kebyar, angklung, gender wayang and dancers present a blissful evening of new and traditional gamelan works. Enjoy the celestial sonorities of gamelan as they are cradled in the arms of Nevada City’s tall pines.
Gamelan Sekar Jaya, a sixty-five member company of musicians and dancers based in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in the performing arts of Bali, Indonesia, returns to the lovely outdoor amphitheater at North Columbia School House Cultural Center, nestled in the San Juan Valley just 20 minutes from Nevada City. Led by master artists I Made Arnawa and Emiko Saraswati Susilo, Sekar Jaya’s performance will include traditional and newly created works on three distinct gamelan ensembles: the vibrant five-tone gong kebyar; the sweetly shimmering four-tone gamelan angklung; and the delicate and virtuosic gendér wayang quartet. They will be joined by Sekar Jaya’s Balinese dance ensemble. The performance will unfold under dappled pinks and oranges of the sunset, framed by the towering pines that surround the amphitheater. The audience is welcomed to lay out a blanket, or move freely to take in the performance from multiple perspectives, and enjoy the complex interlocking rhythms and virtuosic ensemble sensibility of Balinese music and dance.