Ria Soemardjo is a Melbourne based musician with a passion for collaborating with artists across diverse range of genres and artforms.
​Her  distinct, haunting vocal style reflects her Australian/Indonesian cultural heritage.  She draws on her fascination for Indonesian musical traditions in her song writing and collaborative projects.  Ria has recorded with many ensembles including  original compositions with her contemporary world music trio 'Fine Blue Thread' which melds tabla, cello, viola and voice.  
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NEWS
I performed recently with Melbourne Community Gamelan and their visiting teacher - the multi-talented  Danis Sugiyanto. Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet theatre) is one of my favourite events - incorporating live gamelan, beautiful puppets, improvised comedy, epic stories. Here is one of the  highlights for me, Danis is accompanying me singing one  a very popular solo Javanese song, on violin, in his own unique style...
I have been working on several new projects already this year - in Melbourne and Indonesia. Very excited to be returning to West Java in July/August to work with Sandra Long (director/writer) and Maintheater to present 'Hades Memudar".
In NSW I spent a week in residence at  Bundanon  with 'Smoke' project - a wonderful team of  creative collaborators including  Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal, Kirk Page and Anna Leibzeit, exploring themes around ceremonial use of smoke and much more.......

Recent/Current Projects

All Ria’s work integrates, in quite an exquisite way, an aesthetic coming directly from an Asian tradition (with which she has cultural links) and her Australian context. This kind of work enriches the culturally diverse landscape in Australia  and opens new possibilities. It is breathtakingly beautiful, and deserves to be fostered in order to continue and grow....Ria is an artist of great skill and humility, who is quite unique in her ideas, talents and dedication to her work.  (Bagryana Popov 2002)

Past Projects