Dion Nataraja is a composer, experimental vocalist, and scholar from Indonesia. He graduated from Bennington College and is currently pursuing a PhD in music composition at UC Berkeley. His musical and scholarly works have been focusing on the intersection of areas such as Javanese gamelan, electroacoustic music, microtonality, instrument building, and critical theory. The composer-pianist Anthony Cheung described Dion’s music as “a true intercultural music for our time.” By the gamelan composer-performer Wahyu Thoyyib Pambayun, his music has been described as “succeeded in expanding the musical language of the Javanese gendèr.” He has attended masterclasses and studied with musicians of various genres, such as Nick Brooke, Allen Shawn, Steve Lehman, and Darsono Hadiraharjo. At the moment, he is studying with Edmund Campion and Ken Ueno. He has given lectures in venues such as California Institute of the Arts, Salihara Arts Center, Perpromi, October Meeting, among others. He is currently focusing his work on Sandikala Ensemble, a Yogyakarta-based gamelan ensemble that develops experimental techniques and new instruments with the aim of expanding contemporary Javanese music’s horizon.
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