After the World Premiere of Ananda Sukarlan's first piece for guitar solo "The 5 Lovers of Drupadi" today Wednesday March 10th by its commissioner, Spanish guitarist Miguel Trapaga at the Philharmonic Society Concerts of Segovia, this month will welcome new & exciting works for choir.

1. World premiere of "Ayat-ayat Kyoto" for chamber choir (S,A,B), Cantabria (Spain)
2. Performance of AS's choir music on Sapardi Djoko Damono's poems, Jakarta (Indonesia)
3. LIBERTAS in youtube, and future choral work

1. The "San Julian" chamber choir of Cantabria, Spain has commissioned Ananda a choral piece for a small choir without tenor. The composer responded with setting an Indonesian poem by Sapardi Djoko Damono, "Ayat-ayat Kyoto". San Julian Choir will give the world premiere (singing in Indonesian!) on Thursday, 18th of March at 8 p.m at the concert hall of La Vidriera cultural centre, Maliaño, Cantabria (Spain). Less than 1 week later the public in Jakarta will be able to listen to this piece (see the next item below).

2. For several years the highly lyrical poems of Sapardi Djoko Damono have inspired Ananda Sukarlan in making music out of it. The highlight of the mutual collaboration between the two artists was the cantata "Ars Amatoria". Now, Paragita Choir of Universitas Indonesia conducted by Aning Katamsi will perform all three a cappella choir works by these two prominent Indonesian artists in their own fields in one evening, celebrating the 70th birthday of the poet. The event will be the closing of a day long celebration which include poetry readings and analysis of Sapardi's works, held in SALIHARA on the 26th March. The poetry reading and concert starts at 7.30 p.m. The music performed will be :

-Kita Ciptakan Kemerdekaan ("We Create Freedom") -- commissioned by ITB Choir and then incorporated into Ananda's second cantata, "LIBERTAS". For soprano, mezzosoprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass.
-Ayat-ayat Kyoto ("Kyoto Phrases") --commissioned by San Julian Chamber choir of Cantabria, Spain. For soprano, alto and low male voice (no tenor)
-Tanpa Kata ("Without a word") -- a birthday present to Ananda's friend & founder of Indonesia Opera Society, Erza S.T. For Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass. This will be the world premiere of this 2-minute piece

3. Now that we are concentrating in Ananda Sukarlan's choir works, you can listen to his other choral pieces at Youtube. There are some amateur video clips from the performance of his Cantata no. 2, "LIBERTAS" during the Jakarta New Year Concert 2010. Some of them are :

- KRAWANG BEKASI (Chairil Anwar)

{qtube vid:=CL8JIsa9CUk}

- PALESTINA (Hasan Aspahani)

{qtube vid:=qGSNoORx8-w&NR}

- KITA CIPTAKAN KEMERDEKAAN (Sapardi Djoko Damono)

{qtube vid:=WUb0Dtu2-Qk}

At the moment the composer is starting his new work for big choir and orchestra, which will be the first original choral piece in the world using the traditional "angklung" instruments mixed with western instruments. This work, "Stanza Suara" is based on the poem by Hasan Aspahani, and it is about the process of the first creation of sound in the universe. Both the poem and the music are commissioned by ITB Choir of Bandung to be performed at the opening of their International Choral Festival in the end of July.

Don't forget to visit our new website of the Indonesian Classical Music Foundation (Yayasan Musik Sastra Indonesia) at http://www.musik-sastra.com !