My original article for The Jakarta Post : An Open Letter for the Foreign Embassies

Yeah, my original title is that one you see above. Anyway, this article was published at The Jakarta Post on Saturday, August 29th, and here I post my original one, unedited. ............................................................................................................................................ For dozens of years, we Indonesians have enjoyed so many great performances by fabulous international artists, thanks to the generosity of the foreign Embassies in Jakarta. Those performances have opened our minds, broadened our insight and deepened our (artistic) knowledge. They are also usually presented mostly free of charge, so the people who are really interested and have the necessity to learn from them but are not so prosperous could have access to the performances. They provide the lay audience to come, see, experience and taste these art performances for the first time. In fact, during my childhood coming from not such a wealthy family I was one of those lay audience, and thanks to the classical music performances by The British Council, Erasmus Huis, Goethe Institut or Centre Culturel Francais (now IFI) I found my interest in classical music -- and just look what I am doing right now. ............................................................................................................................................ But is the impact of those free performances 100% positive? This is the issue I have been discussing with many foreign diplomats residing in Jakarta, mostly the Cultural Attaches. Of course it is the best way to introduce their culture, arts and artists. And cultural diplomacy is, as we know, perhaps the most effective way to build a strong understanding and solidarity among the people between two countries. But free performances unfortunately do not support the development of art in a sustainable manner. For the last few years, we see a real boom in the quantity and quality of concerts by local artists and local organizers. This becomes a major problem because classical music performances initiated by local organizers are unsubsidized, so we depend a lot on the income from the public. The writer, as a performance artist who also encourages performances by young Indonesian musicians, has received hundreds of messages through these years which are basically just variations on the same theme: Why should we pay to go to concerts by Indonesian (classical) musicians, if we can go to see Western musicians for free? And after hundreds of times explaining the reason behind it, they still (naturally) prefer to go to free concerts. Not that my concerts lack audience, but I know many cases where people complained that "this" or "that" concert could have been free. Especially in Indonesia, where I feel that there is still this feeling of "everything-western-is-better-than-our-own" by many Indonesians, therefore many prefer "western" art to Indonesian ones -- especially if they are free! That is not certainly the case with other things in life: nobody reserves a table in a restaurant and ask: can my girlfriend and I have 2 free meals? Since music is not tangible, or even edible, it doesn't mean that it is free. ............................................................................................................................................ Consciousness to invest in the arts must be built since our early ages, and free concert phenomenon destroys this very concept : that art belongs to everybody, and if one needs it (and certainly we all need it!), we should pay for it, just like we need food or other forms of necessity. Certainly it cannot be built by distributing free tickets to the performance. Free concerts also means that the willingness of the audience to pay to attend a similar concert in the long run will not be developed and encouraged, therefore it is unhealthy to the continuing situation of the arts. What is more, is that the appreciation to any kind of free things are usually low. "Free" often means "disposable", just like when we are handed out free snacks on the street, we often just taste it a bit and then we do not necessarily eat it again or even immediately discard it, after establishing an opinion that that thing we just ate is "cheap" and "not worth eating again". ............................................................................................................................................ A solution, if Embassies are prohibited by the governments to charge tickets to the audience, is to donate the income from the tickets to a cause. The tickets doesn't have to be necessarily "entrance tickets", they could be in a form of invitation "with a donation". The audience should be educated that every kind of art is a production, and any kind of production costs money and we who enjoy it should contribute to it. That is how artists earn our living. The price of the tickets -- or donation in this case -- can also be very cheap. The fare is not what matters here since the purpose is not to cover the production cost; it is the feeling that art is not something free which is important. The amount can be just a symbolic sum, perhaps equal as a cinema ticket, but one will appreciate the performance differently when we know that we, too, contribute to the existence and preservation of what we are enjoying. If its price is even lower than a piece of sandwich, then we know which persons really do NOT care for the performance. ............................................................................................................................................ Contributing to the arts means also contributing to the betterment of the society. Now that the arts subsidies are hugely cut in European countries, this issue will not only be an Indonesian problem, but a widely international one. The arts and culture will go back to where it really belongs : from the people, by the people, for the people. But it could be too late before we realized it.

Changing Partners, all in 1 month

September will be a month of my "infidelity". I will change partners almost every week ! ............................................................................................................................................ September will start with the closing concert of the month-long program "Inspired by the Master" which is successfully invented and realize by ID_Camp. It is a company founded by Dewi Atmodjo and Irene Widharma, both are musicians with certain inquietude to better the music education in Indonesia. On Sunday, 6th of September I will perform my "Pieces of Cakes" duets with 6 selected students out of 33, but you will have a chance to hear them all play their solo works too, PLUS (this is very exciting) you will hear some winners from the Ananda Sukarlan Junior Award recently held in Makassar. This will be divided in 2 sessions, from 2-4 p.m., and 6-8 p.m., each session will feature around 16-18 (very) young and talented pianists. They have studied my music, directly learn from the composer and now they know that it is of utmost importance that they have their own ideas and interpretatins of the music. That's how music grows and stay alive! I will play one Rapsodia Nusantara in each session too (different for each session, obviously). Wanna enjoy a Sunday with your kids? Come then. It takes place at Teater Kecil, Taman Ismail Marzuki. ............................................................................................................................................ Starting 2 days later, I will perform some of my works based on literature, as well as my newest Rapsodia Nusantara numbers in 2 concerts in 1 week. It will be a kind of retrospective of the two aspects of my compositional activities that I focus on lately. For this event I've invited some of the best young Indonesian classical singers namely, soprano Mariska Setiawan, soprano coloratura Evelyn Merrelita and tenor Nikodemus Lukas. In addition, harpist Jessica Sudarta (17) will also feature in one of the concerts. The concerts will take place on September the 8th at Usmar Ismail Hall at 7 p.m. (in collaboration with the Embassy of Peru) and September the 13th at The Dharmawangsa Hotel at 4 p.m (in collaboration with the Rotary Club, Central Jakarta). Here are the details (I am copy pasting from the press release by the organizers) : ............................................................................................................................................ The Embassy of Peru has entrusted Ananda to make the celebration concert for the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Peru. Naturally, the elements of both countries and cultures are present in this concert. Peru will invite its top baritone, Rudi Fernandez Cardenas and Indonesia will be represented by soprano coloratura Evelyn Merrelita. Not only that, there will be a World Premiere of a brand new musical work by Ananda, "Amistad" ("Friendship") for flute, piano and string quartet which contains an interesting and highly unique combination of Peruvian and Indonesian musical elements. The program includes works based on Peruvian poets Cesar Vallejo and Jose Luis Mejia, as well as Indonesian poets Sirikit Syah, Wiji Thukul as well as music by composer Mochtar Embut. The interesting element here is that the Peruvian baritone will sing some Indonesian songs, and the Indonesian soprano will sing some Peruvian (Spanish) songs, so this is really a symbol of exchange of cultural understanding. This unique concert will take place at the USMAR ISMAIL HALL (Jl. Rasuna Said, Kuningan), on Tuesday, September 8th at 7 p.m., preceded by a Peruvian typical cocktail. ............................................................................................................................................ Ananda will play for the first time in Indonesia his three brand new numbers of the highly virtuosic Rapsodia Nusantara which will be one of the major attractions for the event. Ananda and friends will also present the transformation of great masterpieces of literature to music, such as "La Ronde" (from the famous poem by Sitor Situmorang), Darkness and My Lover (on "The Sleepers" by Walt Whitman) as well as poems by Didik Siswantono, Sapardi Djoko Damono, Bernard Batubara and Adimas Immanuel. The best of Indonesia's younger generation singers are represented here: winners of the National Vocal Competition "Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan" Mariska Setiawan (soprano) and Nikodemus Lukas (tenor), both in their early 20s. Mariska & Niko will also perform famous classical works such as O Mio Babbino Caro (from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918), music by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano) and La Donna e Mobile (from the opera Rigoletto (1851), music by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo). ............................................................................................................................................ This concert is a fundraising event for the charities which Rotary Club Jakarta Sentral supports. It will take place at the Bimansena Club at Dharmawangsa, Jalan Dharmawangsa Raya No 23, Kebayoran Baru , on Sunday, September 13th at 4 p.m. As the theme of the concert is "Tea with Ananda", the event will start with “High Tea” commencing at 3.30 p.m. The capacity of the venue is limited to 150 seats. ............................................................................................................................................ These series of concerts might be the ones that give me the most satisfaction, since I admire each and every one of my partners. From good musicians, each with their own personalities however weird, they inspire me, and I learn a lot from them. Yeah yeah, including those kids who perform with me at the "Inspired by the Master". I believe in young people, since I learn a lot from my daughter since she was very small. They have their own way of looking at this world, and that is very stimulating and reinvigorating for me. And the future of classical music in Indonesia is in their (small) hands! (photo, from l. to r : Mariska Setiawan, Jessica Sudarta, Nikodemus Lukas)

Klarifikasi berita ASA Junior 2015 dan pengumuman ASA International 2016

Terima kasih saya ucapkan kepada para peserta, juri dan penyelenggara Ananda Sukarlan Junior Award 2015 di Makassar. Mengorganisasi suatu kompetisi piano tingkat nasional bukan suatu hal yang mudah. Dari pihak saya maupun organisasi tentu tetap ada kekurangan, namun saya sangat-sangat berterimakasih kepada seluruh tim Grazioso Music School yang dipimpin Eveline Philips dan "tangan kanannya" Riz Ramadhan, serta Chendra Panatan yang semua dapat menyelesaikan segala hal dengan baik dan besar sumbangannya dalam meletakkan Makassar dalam peta musik sastra Indonesia. ............................................................................................................................................ Saya ingin mengklarifikasi beberapa berita di media yang keluar setelah kompetisi. Ini bukan cari-cari alasan, tapi saya ingin menceritakan keadaan setelah 3 hari yang sangat intensif, terfokus dan konsentrasi terhadap banyak hal yang tentu sangat melelahkan. Di saat-saat seperti itu, saya harus melayani puluhan pertanyaan dari wartawan melalui WhatsApp atau telepon, yang dapat menimbulkan kesalahpahaman data, salah eja nama pemenang, atau salah kota dari mana mereka berasal. Ada beberapa berita yang kurang data, atau rancu, yang dapat mengecewakan beberapa pemenang / peserta. Saya tidak ingin menyalahkan penulis berita di media tsb., karena saya bertanggungjawab atas segala kejelasan data untuk semua yang tertulis di media resmi, baik online maupun cetak. Tapi saya TIDAK bertanggungjawab atas segala tulisan orang lain di media sosial. Untuk ini kami mohon maaf. Mohon cek link ini yang singkat dan akurat, karena interview kami lakukan dengan TERTULIS lewat email. http://www.ciputranews.com/event/surabaya-dominasi-kompetisi-piano-nasional-ananda-sukarlan-award-junior#.Vdsy6v1YK8Q.twitter ............................................................................................................................................ Perkenankanlah saya di kesempatan ini untuk menginformasikan 2 hal untuk ASA International Piano Competition tahun depan. Walaupun kami akan mengundang juri dari luar negeri, selain dalam negeri, ASA 2016 akan diperuntukkan HANYA UNTUK PIANIS INDONESIA (yang artinya berkewarganegaraan, atau memiliki paspor Indonesia). Ini karena kami mempunyai tanggungjawab moral untuk memperkenalkan pianis bangsa kita, dengan mengirimnya ke negara lain seperti kesempatan yang kami berikan kepada Anthony Hartono, pemenang ASA International 2014, ke Perancis. Kami harapkan pemenang ASA akan dapat menjadi duta musik negaranya, baik di dunia internasional maupun di negara kita sendiri. Baru minggu lalu, seorang pemenang kompetisi vokal nasional "Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan" yang kini telah memiliki karir yang cukup berkembang, soprano Mariska Setiawan, menuliskan essay yang bagus sebagai tulisan perdana di blognya sebagai pemusik Indonesia yang sedang belajar di luar negeri. Silakan cek : https://mariskasetiawan.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/halo-dunia/ ............................................................................................................................................ Kami juga mengadakan 1 kategori NON-KOMPETITIF di ASA International 2016 nanti : Kategori untuk pianis DIFABEL dan DISABILITAS (penyandang cacat fisik, mental, atau keduanya). Kategori ini bertujuan untuk memberi mimbar / platform bagi mereka untuk menunjukkan pentingnya peranan musik dalam pendidikan, perkembangan dan bagian dari hidup mereka yang dapat dibagikan kepada publik. Info lebih detail akan kami sampaikan lebih lanjut dalam beberapa minggu kedepan. ............................................................................................................................................ Demikian keterangan dari saya. Silakan menjadi member facebook kami untuk mengetahui berita2 lebih lanjut : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ananda-Sukarlan-Award-International-Piano-Competition/639403892799464?fref=ts