The South Bank Gamelan Players

Traditional and new music for Javanese gamelan

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The South Bank Gamelan Players was founded by Alec Roth in 1987 and is now an Ensemble-in-Residence at the Royal Festival Hall, playing on the magnificent Yogyanese gamelan housed there.

Many of its members have undertaken extensive study in Java and a number are tutors for the Royal Festival Hall Gamelan Programme.

The South Bank Gamelan players has worked closely with a number of leading Indonesian artists and established an international reputation both for its performances of traditional Javanese music and its championing of new music for gamelan.

Notable performances

Javanese Music and Dance

Collaborations with dancers, choreograpers, composers and musicians from Central Java, including:

1988 - BBC Prom Concert with artists from STSI (Academy of Indonesian Performing Arts) Surakarta
2001 - Performance at the Settembre Musica Festival, Turin with Yogyarkarta-based dance company Wahyuning Kuswala
2002 - British tour with Wahyuning Kuswala
2004 - Performance at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre
2003-2005 - Ramayana dance-drama trilogy with the Sunarno Dance Company in the UK (Queen Elizabeth Hall, RNCM Manchester and Aldeburgh Festival) and Italy.

Wayang Kulit (shadow-puppet plays)

Accompanying many renowned master-puppeteers with performances in both Javanese and English, including:

1997 - WOMAD - a contemporary Javanese wayang kulit with CIPA (Contemporary Indonesian Performing Artists).

 

Contemporary dance

Collaborations with contemporary choreographers and dancers including:

1996 - The Mark Morris Dance Group, Edinburgh Festival;
1988 & 2001 - Kenneth Tharp, 'Songs and Dances from the Tempest' with music by Alec Roth;
2001 - Filip van Hufel, 'Triggered' installation with composer Duncan Chapman.

New Music for Gamelan

Performances of contemporary gamelan music written or arranged by composers from the UK, Europe and America.

1995 - Premiere of the music-theatre work 'The Knight with the Lion' commissioned by SBGP from composer Adrian Lee and librettist Matthew Sweeney with the help of the Arts Council of England.

1995 - MTV Unplugged with Bjork - an arrangement of the song' One Day' for gamelan, tuba and tabla.

1998 - ISCM World Music Days, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester including the first performance of Salvatore Sciarrino's 'Waiting for the Wind', specially commissioned by SBGP.

2002 - French tour of new compositions for gamelan by Francois-Bernard Mache, Jean-Yves Bosseur and Symon Clarke.

2004 - Collaboration and performances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra of Geoffrey Poole's 'Swans Reflecting Elephants' for gamelan and orchestra.

Contact Matthew Brailsford - Administrator
Email: info@sbgp.org.uk
Web: www.sbgp.org.uk

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