Gaudeamus festival – Peni Candra Rini

The renowned Javanese singer and composer Peni Candra Rini—one of the jury members for the Gaudeamus Award 2026—presents her new work The Wheel for gamelan, in collaboration with the New European Ensemble. This 45-minute chamber piece reinterprets the traditional Javanese macapat cycle: eleven poetic songs in liturgical Javanese that trace the spiritual and existential phases of human life.

Rather than drawing on traditional repertoire, the work deconstructs and reconfigures the acoustic spectra of gamelan instruments, combining their distinctive timbres with the sound colours of a contemporary chamber ensemble. The resonance, overtone structures, microtonality, and cyclical temporality of the gamelan form the generative core of a new musical language. A piece in which the New European Ensemble invites you to dare to listen and discover an innovative interplay.