Saturday, March 21, 2026 / 3:30pm
Thomas Tull Concert Hall, MIT Building W18
201 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA
Featuring new works by Evan Ziporyn, Kyle Miller, and Théo Mérigeau
Gamelan Yowana Sari, Queens University
Michael Lipsey, Fred Trumpy, Ruka Shinoroshi, co-directors
Kyle Miller, 8-string electric guitar
Jack Lynch, 7-string electric bass
Gamelan Galak Tika, MIT
Evan Ziporyn, director
Sumie Kaneko, koto & shamisen
Dan Schmidt, keyboard gedé
Emma Terrell, keyboard alit
Blake Newman, acoustic bass
Program
Amok! (1996)
Stones are the Flowers (2022)
Gamelan Galak Tika
Dan Schmidt, Keyboard
Emma Terrell, Keyboard
Blake Newman, Bass
Gamelan Yowana Sari
Evan Ziporyn (b.1959)
Kyle Miller (b.1997)
Espaces Libres (2026)
Gamelan Yowana Sari
I. Guirlandes
World Premiere
Théo Mérigeau (b.1987)
Aradhana (2004)
Gamelan Galak Tika
Sumie Kaneko, Koto & Shamisen
Ziporyn
aERIFoRm kITE (2024)
Gamelan Yowana Sari
Kyle Miller, 8-String Guitar
Jack Lynch, 7-String Electric Bass
Ziporyn
Album release reception to follow in the lobby
Today’s program represents the coming together of two leading American gamelan ensembles – MIT’s own Gamelan Galak Tika and Queens College’s Gamelan Yowana Sari. The mebarung (lit. ‘melody competition’) has been part of Balinese performance practice for over a century, but this represents the first time these two groups have played on the same stage.
The Balinese gamelan has always valued kreasi baru- new creations – and both Yowana Sari & Galak Tika have established themselves as proponents of new and experimental work, commissioning and premiering works by dozens of Balinese and western composers. 5 of these are represented on Yowana Sari’s new album, whose release we’re celebrating today. One of those is MIT’s own Evan Ziporyn, with today’s concert also serving as a mini-retrospective of his 3-decades-plus cross-cultural exploration and collaboration. It is also a chane to welcome back another global musical explorer, Sumie Kaneko, a master of traditional Japanese koto and shamisen, who has taken both those instruments into new territory, often as part of MIT Sounding.
Reception to follow in the lobby, celebrating the release of Yowana Sari’s new album and the creative ties between these two communities of musicians.
Stones are the Flowers (2022) is composed for Balinese gamelan and 8-string electric guitar. The piece contrasts the large, resonant instruments of the gamelan, often played in a loud, fast, and intense style (the “stones”), with the sensitivity and intimacy that can also emerge from them (the “flowers”). The first two thirds of the work trace a delicate and patient journey through calm, spacious soundscapes, holding back the full ensemble until the later sections. Here, the “stones” take over, building into the intense energy that many associate with Balinese gamelan. This energy then softens and releases into a gentle, reflective finale.
—Kyle Miller
Guirlandes (2026) is the first movement of Théo Mérigeau’s Espaces Libres for Gamelan and percussion ensemble. The work was commissioned by Talujon Percussion and will be premiered in its entirety at the Bali International Arts Festival (Pesta Seni) in July 2026.
—Théo Mérigeau
Aradhana (2004) is a Sanskrit word that refers to ritual acts of deep devotion; in Bali it relates to the old Javanese word arad, meaning “to bow” or “to pull,” but also “to draw out” or “to call up from a distance or from the unseen.” This piece is a mutual summoning, a drawing together of two distinct sound worlds, Balinese gamelan and Japanese koto and shamisen. My purpose in bringing these together is simply the joy of exploration and collaboration, and the hope of finding beauty both in the unexpected connections and discrepancies.
I originally composed Aradhana for the Chinese pipa, specifically for the outstanding virtuoso Wu Man, with whom Gamelan Galak Tika performed the piece on many occasions. I am deeply grateful to her for inspiring the piece and for bringing it to life with such brilliance. Several years later, in 2016, I composed a short solo for Sumie Kaneko, equally at home on both koto and shamisen. I realized that the distinct sounds of these two instruments were perfectly suited to the contrasting halves of Aradhana, and that together they ‘drew together’ and showcased the extremes of her full range of musical expressiveness. This current version was premiered as part of CAST’s Sounding series in 2016, and at Princeton’s Center for Advanced Studies.
Aradhana also calls for some unusual gamelan techniques. Most notably, musicians use bass bows on metallophones, making manifest the “pulling” or “drawing” of the title and produce attack‑less, sustained tones that blur the line between breath and percussion.
Amok! (1996) is one of the few common English language words taken directly from Malay/Indonesian. The others are ‘ketchup’ (soy sauce) and ‘orangutan (forest person), and neither seemed to suit this piece. When I wrote it, in 1996, real-time processing and nimble sample manipulation were just coming into their own, and I sought to explore the contrast between the endless possibilities of electronics – where any sound is possible if you can only figure out how to make it – and the ‘rooted in the real’-ness of the gamelan – its finite 5-toned scale emitting an infinity of overtones and sonic richness . This contrast governs the piece, with the sampler using only the sounds of the gamelan, transposed and uprooted to create new melodic and harmonic possibilities. A melody starts in a pentatonic gamelan and winds up somewhere else; a rhythm moves to the bass and is then overlaid with digital effects – delays and harmonizations – to create something else entirely, each element recontextualizing the other.
aERIFoRm kITE (2024) is for gamelan and guitars, a combination I’ve been interested in since the early 1990s. In those pieces my primary objective was to “embrace the clash,” sonically and culturally, to forefront the discrepancies of timbre and tuning, and to find a joyful blend over the course of the pieces. aERIFoRm kITE scrambles that formula, starting with the hidden commonalities of harmonics and cross-rhythms, and gradually building to a similar euphoria.
—Evan Ziporyn
Sumie Kaneko is a New York based Japanese artist. She is a multitalented musician and composer, specializing in Yamada style koto, shamisen, and vocals. A master in the traditional repertoire of these ancient instruments, she has also pioneered their use in jazz and experimental music, through solo and group performances worldwide. She is renowned for her ability to collaborate with a diverse array of visionary international artists including Pulitzer Winner Paula Vogel, Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Project, composer Evan Ziporyn, taiko artist Kenny Endo, and tabla player Tanmoy Bose. In 2025, she performed shamisen solo for American Ballet Theatre’s season opening with the principal dancers, Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside.
She has performed at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Blue Note NY, TED talk, Google, The Getty, Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Houston. As an educator, she has lectured at large academic institutions including Harvard University, Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Wellesley College, and Berklee College of Music. Sumie’s music library is available on Epidemic Sound, Artlist, and Splice.
For Sumie’s full biography: https://www.sumiekaneko.com/new
Evan Ziporyn (b. 1959, Chicago) is a composer, clarinetist, and conductor. At MIT, he is the Inaugural Director of the Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST), founder of Gamelan Galak Tika, and Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music.
His compositions have been commissioned and performed by Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble, Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can, Brooklyn Rider, Maya Beiser, Roomful of Teeth, and the American Composers Orchestra, among others, at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, London’s Barbican, the Holland Festival, and Big Ears. His opera A House in Bali was featured at BAM’s Next Wave Festival, and his large-scale collaborations and installations have appeared at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Boston ICA, and the MIT Museum.
A founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars (1992–2012), Ziporyn also performed and recorded with the Steve Reich Ensemble, sharing a Grammy for Music for 18 Musicians. Other collaborations include Brian Eno, Paul Simon, Iva Bittová, Wu Man, filmmaker/podcaster Caveh Zahedi, and Philip Glass. His most recent piece, the viola concerto 1991, was premiered one week ago today by BSO violist Daniel Kim and the MIT Wind Ensemble. Other recent projects include EV6 (w/ Eran Egozy) for orchestra and cellphones, In Light of Sound for Kinetic Ensemble, Bowie Symphonic: Blackstar Concerto for cello and orchestra, and Poppy 88, a telematic piece spanning six continents. His most recent album is Art Decade (2025, Cantaloupe Music). His music appears on Sony Classical, Cantaloupe, and New World Records.
For Evan’s full biography, visit: https://www.ziporyn.com/
Composer and percussionist, Théo Mérigeau writes music strongly influenced by the fundamental and structural principles of Balinese gamelan. He works on the notions of interdependence and interweaving of parts, where each instrumentalist’s voice takes its meaning from its integration into the collective.
Born in 1987, he studied percussion at the Rueil-Malmaison’s conservatory, then composition, analysis and musical acoustics at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he obtained a Master’s degree in 2020. Since 2010, he has been studying and practicing Balinese gamelan in Bali with renowned masters, and is passionate about the avant-garde music of Balinese composers, which he assiduously analyzes.
As a composer, he has written pieces for Ensemble Intercontemporain soloists, Ensemble Hiatus, Duo Braz-Bazar, Duo XAMP, organist Karol Mossakowski, Orchestra Les Siècles and Radio-France Philarmonic, as well as for ensembles ICTUS, Cairn, Court-Circuit, 2e2m, Sillages and Multilatérale. In 2020, he was awarded the Francis and Mica Salabert Foundation Composition Prize, and is a laureate of the Royaumont Foundation 2022.
Kyle Miller is a New York-based, genre-fluid composer, performer, educator, and audio engineer. Blending rock and classical idioms, he crafts a musical language that feels both familiar and refreshingly new.
Kyle holds a Bachelor of Music in Classical Guitar Performance and a Master of Arts in Composition from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. His musical journey has taken him around the world, with opportunities to study and perform in Xalapa, Mexico; Florence, Italy; Villeblevin, France; and Bali, Indonesia.
He is an active performer and composer with Ictus Novus, Wildacat, Gamelan Yowana Sari, and Gamelan Dharma Swara, contributing to diverse and boundary-pushing musical projects across New York City and beyond.
Blake Newman has performed on five continents in a multitude of diverse musical settings. He has recorded for Rounder, Innova, Accurate, and Audio Quest Records. He can be seen performing with his trio every Wednesday at the Liberty Hotel in Boston, backing up spoken word artists every Sunday night at Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, and bi-monthly jazz brunches at The Beehive Restaurant in Boston. He plays bass with New Orleans groove band Revolutionary Snake Ensemble and keeps busy as a freelance bassist throughout New England. He has played locally and toured extensively with the American Repertory Theater and teaches Aikido at MIT.
For more information, visit: http://www.blakenewmanbass.com
Evan Ziporyn, Music Director
Raymond Brookman ’26
Mark David Buckles
Ramon Castillo
John Cho
Ian Coss
Eran Egozy ’95, ’95 G
Emily Gunawan
Noam Hassenfeld
Chris Kline ’99 G
Sean Mannion
Ryan Meyer
Stephanie Mitchell
Kep Peters
Ponnapa Prakkamakul
Alex Rigopulos ’92, ’94 G
Sachi Sato
Dan Schmidt ’91
Nick Smucker
Christine Southworth ’02
Mark Stewart
Emma Terrell
Erin Thomas ’95
Leo Ziporyn
Gamelan Galak Tika was founded in 1993 by Evan Ziporyn, Desak Made Suarti Laksmi & Nyoman Catra, launching a bold new era of Balinese gamelan in America. Now reconstituted with several original and long-time members, Gamelan Galak Tika continues its 30-year tradition of fusing ancient Balinese roots with adventurous contemporary innovation. The group has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, BAM Next Wave, Bang on a Can, the Boston ICA, Cleveland Museum of Art, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and at universities and festivals throughout the Northeast. In 2005, Galak Tika brought its electrifying energy to Bali itself, appearing at the Bali Arts Festival, Kuta Beach, and in villages across the island.
True to its collaborative spirit, Galak Tika thrives on boundary-breaking partnerships, commissioning new works from both Balinese and American composers and integrating gamelan with Western instruments and electronics. Landmark projects include Christine Southworth’s SuperCollider for electronic gamelan and Kronos Quartet, Evan Ziporyn’s Tire Fire for gamelan and electric guitars, and original compositions by Dewa Alit, Ramon Castillo, Lou Harrison, Gusti Komin, Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, Desak Made Suarti Laksmi, and minimalist icon Terry Riley.
Gamelan Galak Tika is one of three gamelans in residence in MIT’s Music & Culture Space in the Linde Music Buildling. Gamelan Mirah Tingi (directed by Gusti Komin) is a curricular MIT class open to students and community; Gamelan Anak Tika AKA Cambridge Youth Gamelan (directed by Emeric Viani) is a community-based educational ensemble for ages 5-18.
For Gamelan Galak Tika’s full biography, visit: https://www.galaktika.org/
Michael Lipsey, Co-Music Director
Fred Trumpy, Co-Music Director
Ruka Shironishi, Co-Music Director
Bernadette Bismonte
Miguel Bismonte
Robin Buyer
Anastasia Caamaño
Jonathan Collazo
Steve DeBellis
Donovan Edelstein
Claire Ezratty
Matt Gold
Daniel Kim
Jack Lynch
Daniel Matei
Najee Marcelin
Eric Mu
Dylan Ofrias
Natalie Olivieri
Jesse Sarembrock
Alida Torres
Alphonso Valentin
Since forming in 2011, Gamelan Yowana Sari (GYS) is the performing Balinese Art Ensemble in residence at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, NYC. Under the direction of Michael Lipsey and Fred Trumpy, Yowana Sari toured Bali multiple times, studying and performing under the master composer and musician I Dewa Ketut Alit in Pengosekan, Bali. In 2024, the group commissioned new works from Michael Gordon and Evan Ziporyn, which were performed alongside compositions by Dewa Ketut Alit, Vivian Fung, and Kyle Miller at Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival and MASS MoCA Summer Music Festival. Following these performances, GYS returned to Bali to study and perform with Dewa Alit’s Gamelan Salukat, as well as to record their debut album.
The group has performed at multiple major festivals including the Bang on a Can Festival, Percussive Arts Society International Convention 2017 in Indiana, the River-to-River Festival, Make Music NY Festival, and the Asheville Percussion Festival.
For Gamelan Yowana Sari’s full biography, visit: https://www.gamelanys.com/
MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST)
CAST creates new opportunities for art, science, and technology to thrive as interrelated, mutually informing modes of exploration, knowledge, and discovery. CAST’s multidisciplinary platform presents performing and visual arts programs, supports research projects for artists working with science and engineering labs, and sponsors symposia, classes, workshops, design studios, lectures, and publications.
For more information, please contact cast@mit.edu or visit arts.mit.edu/cast
MIT Music and Theater Arts (MTA)
The Music and Theater Arts Section of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences annually affords 1,500 students per year the opportunity to experience the unique language and process of the performing arts. Faculty and teaching staff, informed by their ongoing professional activities, help students understand art’s demand for rigor and discipline and its non-quantitative standards of excellence and beauty.
For more information, please contact mta@mit.edu or visit mta.mit.edu
Special Thanks
A special thank you to Alex Rigopulos and Sachi Sato for their generous support of this concert’s guest soloist, Sumie Kaneko.
Visit arts.mit.edu and mta.mit.edu for more information about upcoming performances, including:
Solar Return for Change
A new work composed by CAST Visiting Artist Guillermo Klein
Featuring the MIT Wind Ensemble
Friday, May 8, 2026 / 8:00pm
Kresge Auditorium, MIT Building W16