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Competitions & Awards
Pianist David Oei & Gamelan Son of Lion in a Free Washington Square Concert
June 28, 2008 | By Peggy Friedman
On Tuesday, July 22 at 8 pm in Washington Square Park, the Washington Square Music Festival welcomes pianist David Oei and Gamelan Son of Lion in an eclectic concert of works by Ernö Dohnányi, Eric Satie, Lou Harrison, and traditional Javanese court music. Local note: famed American composer Lou Harrison (1917-2003) once taught at Greenwich House Music School. This concert is the fourth in a series of five alfresco entertainments.
The Festival is held under the auspices of the Washington Square Association, a civic organization since 1903. Concerts take place in the southeast quadrant of the park, near the statue of Garibaldi. Seating is first-come, first-served. Rainspace is: New York University’s Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street. Public information number is: 212-252-3621. www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org
Tuesday, July 22, 8 pm -- Festival Ensemble: David Oei, piano soloist, Lutz Rath, narrator, and Gamelan Son of Lion Ernö Dohnányi Sextet in C for piano, strings & winds Erik Satie Sports et Divertissements for narrator and wind quintet Lou Harrison Double Concerto for violin & cello with gamelan orchestra Traditional Javanese court music "Babar Layar" for gamelan orchestra Gamelan Son of Lion is a new-music repertory ensemble based in downtown New York City specializing in contemporary pieces written for the instruments of the Javanese gamelan. Gamelan Son of Lion's instruments were built in village style by Barbara Benary using steel keys, cans for resonators, and hubcaps for kempul.
"Babar Layar" (Setting the Sail), is the work to be performed at the Festival. The name connotes renewal or rebirth and belongs to a group of gending bonang - pieces featuring the small knobbed kettle set called bonang - developed at the end of the 18th century. Used to inaugurate official court functions, it is played in a spacious and strong style to set a mood of power and authority. The gamelan Debussy and Ravel heard at the 1889 Paris World’s Fair was from a court in Java, and may have sounded like this.
Gamelan Son of Lion was begun by a core group of composers: Barbara Benary, Daniel Goode, and Philip Corner. Its repertoire centers on new compositions by these and other American composers, both ensemble members and commissioned guests. The group has also performed experimental works by Indonesian composers, a number of pieces involving gamelan with electronic music, and several theatre works involving opera, wayang kulit, multimedia and dance.
The gamelan orchestra performed as guests of the Government of Indonesia at Expo 86 in Vancouver, Canada, and toured Java in 1996, participating in the Jogjakarta Gamelan Festival and the Borobudur Festival. More recent tours have been to New Zealand and Estonia.
Remaining Concert in the Series Tuesday, July 29, 8 pm – Charles Mingus Orchestra plays jazz by the master. Rainspace: New York University’s Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 W. 4th Street.
The Washington Square Music Festival is made possible with major funding from the The Earle K. & Katherine Moore Foundation, and with public funds from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation through the good offices of Senator Thomas K. Duane and Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick; and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and City Councilmember Alan J. Gerson; the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. US Recording Companies fund in part the instrumental music for the series, as arranged by Local 802, American Federation of Musicians. Generous grants from the Washington Square Park Council, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Washington Square Association, New York University Community Fund, Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, Carmine Street Block Association, Buchbinder & Warren LLC, Con Edison, Washington Square Hotel, and BAMRA are deeply appreciated.
