GAMELAN GALAK TIKA
Evan Ziporyn, Director
MIT Music and Theatre Arts (617) 452-2302
Rm 4-246, 77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
http://web.mit.edu/galak-tika/www

Gamelan Galak Tika and the NEC Orchestra present
WORLD PREMIERE at NEC Spring Festival


Cambridge, MA (February 12 2003) Gamelan Galak Tika continues a season of 10th anniversary events with the world premiere of “Ngaben (for Sari Club)” by artistic director Evan Ziporyn. This new work for Balinese gamelan and full symphony orchestra will be performed by GGT and the New England Conservatory Orchestra as part of the NEC Spring Festival, with conductor Dante Anzolini, on Wednesday, March 12, at 8pm in Jordan Hall, 290 Huntington Ave., Boston. Free and open to the public; tickets are not required. 617-536-2412.

Evan Ziporyns new work, "Ngaben (for Sari Club)," is the latest and most ambitious of his groundbreaking works combining gamelan with western instruments. The piece is dedicated to the victims of last Octobers Bali bombing, which took over 200 Balinese and western victims. About the work, the composer writes, “A ngaben is a cremation, the last and most important ritual in Bali Hinduism, in which the survivors assist the departed soul in finding release and freedom. This piece tries to honor that spirit, and to affirm my belief in cross-culturalism, both as a source of artistic inspiration and as a primary mode of human contact and respect.”

Dante Anzolini is an Associate Professor of Music at MIT, and is currently serving as Director of the Orchestral Program at NEC. In recent years he has conducted orchestras in the United States, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina and Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Lithuania. He worked as conductor for the Bonn Opera and for the Bern Opera and was Professor of Conducting at the Festival de Artes de Itu in Brazil. He is a strong advocate of contemporary music and an active performer of the traditional repertoire. He studied conducting with Mariano Drago Sijanec in Argentina, Eleazar de Carvalho at Yale and at the Tanglewood Music Center as a Fellowship student. In addition to orchestral conducting, he has worked as a pianist, harpsichordist, organist, violinist, violist and choral conductor. He obtained an undergraduate degree in music and mathematics.

Gamelan Galak Tika is the Boston area's first Balinese gamelan. A community ensemble in residence at MIT, GGT was founded in September 1993 for the purpose of studying and performing both traditional and modern Balinese music and dance. In the 10 years since its inception, GGT has performed at dozens of venues throughout New England, including Lincoln Center, BAM Next Wave, Bang On A Can World Orchestra Day, Boston First Night, the Somerville Arts Festival, and numerous universities and museums. They have collaborated with leading Balinese choreographers and dancers, as well as with theatrical groups, other Asian performing artists, electronic musicians and composers, and local dance diva Nicola Hawkins. GGT continues to bring this sophisticated and living art form to the attention of American audiences. For more information about this or other Gamelan Galak Tika events, please visit http://web.mit.edu/galak-tika/www or contact us via email.