I Wayan Sadra

I Wayan Sadra (1 August 1953, Denpasar, Bali) is an Indonesian composer and gamelan player. After studying classical Balinese music at the Balinese Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Denpasar, I Wayan Sadra went to Jakarta in 1973 and became acquainted with contemporary art. A highly accomplished player of the Balinese gamelan, Sadra taught the gamelan at the Jakarta Fine Arts Institute (1975–8) and Balinese music at the Indonesian University (1978–80), then moved to Surakarta to study and teach at the Indonesian Academy for the Performing Arts (1983–7). At the forefront of an emerging group of composers trained in the indigenous classical musics of particular regions of Indonesia, he has departed from his background in gamelan music. His works display his extraordinary musical imagination and his skill in employing indigenous compositional techniques and new ways of playing traditional instruments.