SPOONBENDER ORCHESTRA
Directed by Jeffrey Rukaman

Live performances: October 3, 4, 9 & 10 – all at 7:30pm; $10

SPOONBENDER ORCHESTRA is a Kansas City-based collective of musicians and artists dedicated to the discovery and performance of new music. Known for blending unorthodox instrumentation into panoramic soundscapes, the ensemble combines found objects, “discarded” technologies, cellos, kotos and glass bells into nocturnal stories where the sounds themselves become characters. Spoonbender Orchestra will feature the gongs and bronze chimes of Indonesian gamelan music as they premiere new work by composer Jeffrey Rukaman at La Esquina October 3, 4, 9, and 10. The ornate gamelan instruments have been designed specifically for the Spoonbender Orchestra, and will be woven into their relentlessly inclusive sound.

GAMELAN GENTA KASTURI, the region’s first gamelan orchestra, will perform traditional and contemporary Balinese music and dance in two concerts October 18 and 19, 2008 at La Esquina.
Gamelan is the preeminent orchestral music of Indonesia, and became a major influence on western music in the last century. Incorporating deep bronze gongs, finely tuned metallophones, bamboo flutes and kendang drums, gamelan continues to flourish in its homeland and around the world. Ancient traditions and experimentation are both embraced in this complex and energetic music. A special afternoon gamelan workshop will take place on Sunday October 19 in which members of Gamelan Genta Kasturi, led by Pak Gede Alonzo Conway, will demonstrate some of the inner workings of this fascinating music, as well as its enormous role in Indonesian life.

Jeffrey Rukaman (aka: Glendon Jethro, J. Ruckus, Glenda Jeffries, Jevy Rukaman, Doyle Magritte, etc.) has been a founding member of Gillham Park Orchtet, Necessity Brass Band, Gamelan Genta Kasturi, newEar, Terrestrial Consort, and Spoonbender Orchestra. He writes music for instruments, found objects, hardware/salvage constructions and voices. He has performed and collaborated with Lou Harrison, John Cage, Pauline Oliveros, Firesigh Theater, Rebirth Brass Band, Treme Brass Band, Indonesian gamelan masters Ketut Gide Asnawa and Komang Astita, temple gamelans of Denpasar and Ubud, Transylvanian poet Andrei Codrescu, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, National Audio Theater (as composer in residence), and National Public Radio, to name a few. Among his recent projects is “Sounds of Silents,” a series of silent films presented with live music composed by Rukaman at Kansas City Public Library’s Helzberg Auditorium.