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Gamelan Burat Wangi

About this Artist

I Nyoman Wenten, artistic director of GAMELAN BURAT WANGI, is one of Bali's most accomplished dancers and is a celebrated musician, teacher, and performer.

Wenten deepened his traditional training with formal study, first at Bali's Conservatory of Music (Kokar), and later at the National Music and Dance Academy in Yogyakarta, Java, where he studied with many well-known teachers/gurus, such as Bapak I Wayan Berata, Bapak I Nyoman Rembang, Bapak Nyoman Kaler, Bapak Nyoman Kakul, Bapak Nyoman Rendi, Bapak Ida Bagus Raka, and Bapak Anak Agung Oka, as well as such Javanese teachers as Romo Sasminta Mardowo, Bapak Nartomo, Romo Suryo Bronto, Romo Suryadiningrat, Romo Ngung Kesowo, Bapak S. Maridi, and Bapak K.P.H. (Kanjeng Pangeran Haryo) Notoprojo (Pak Cokro). He also holds an MFA degree from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California and a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from UCLA.

Wenten is known not only for his traditional music and dance, but also for his creative East-West composition and performance work. He has collaborated with numerous musicians, composers, dancers and choreographers, including Morton Subotnick, Elaine Barkin, Mirian Scott, Robert Kyr, George Lewis, Dr. Subramaniam, Adam Rudolph, S. Maridi, Sardono W. Kusomo, Ben Suharto, Eko Supriyanto, Nyoman Cerita, and Dewa Putu Berata, to name a few. His most recent collaboration with Linda Sohl-Donnell, artistic director and principal choreographer for Rhapsody in Taps, garnered a prestigious Lester Horton Award.

As a performer, he has toured throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, including the People's Republic of China, the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea, Taiwan, Canada, and South American countries. In January 2003, Wenten collaborated with five actor-dancers from the Peking Opera in Hong Kong in the production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. In September 2003 and October 2004, as a performer and artistic director of Gamelan Burat Wangi, he toured Mexico City and collaborated and performed with the Compania Nacional de Danza Folklórica. In October 2003, Gamelan Burat Wangi, under his artistic direction, performed at the new Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

As a teacher, he has taught at the Indonesian Arts Institute in both Bali and Java, and many gamelan music and dance programs in the United States and Canada, including the Center for World Music in Berkeley; UC Berkeley; UCLA; UCSD; San Diego State University; San Francisco State University; San Jose State University; Loyola-Marymount University; University of Wisconsin; Goldsmith College, London; Dominican College, San Rafael; Mills College, Oakland; Simon Fraser University, Vancouver; Pomona College in Claremont, CA; and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Since 1988 he has recorded and produced gamelan CDs with C.M.P. Recording Company of Germany, for which he had recorded more than 40 different gamelan ensembles from West Java, Central and East Java, the island of Bali, and Lombok. Currently, Wenten is on the faculty of California Institute of the Arts in Valencia.