B I O
Ria Soemardjo’s distinct, haunting vocal style reflects her personal connection to her father’s Javanese cultural heritage. Born in Melbourne, she has recorded and performed with many ensembles, and continues to create original compositions with her contemporary world music trio 'Fine Blue Thread' which melds tabla, cello, viola and voice. Her songwriting, and improvisations and live performance reveal an eclectic range of influences. Ria has studied the classical Javanese vocal repertoire, and is well known in the Australian Indonesian community, for her dedication to this beautiful and complex style of singing, regularly performing Wayang Kulit repertoire with ensembles including Melbourne Community Gamelan and Gamelan Dananda.
Her long term passion for collaborating with artists across diverse artforms and cultures, has led her to work on numerous contemporary dance and theatre projects around Australia and Asia over the last 15 years. Ria’s compositions and live music performance for dance works have received Green Room nominations – including Enfold (2016) and Opal Vapour (2013), and an award for her work with Helen Mountfort on Ros Warby’s Tower Suites in 2012.
In 2019 she spent a month in residency (with Melbourne director/writer, Sandra Long) at the Nuart Sculpture Park in Bandung, West Java, working with MainTeater company to create music and vocal scores for a multi-media site specific theatre performance. Hades Fading premiered in Bandung in 2019, and received warm reviews at 2020 AsiaToPa Festival in Melbourne.
Ria’s lifelong fascination with ritual music/dance/theatre of Java and Bali have propelled her to develop powerful contemporary performance/rituals, in response to urban sites. Initiating the ongoing ‘Echoes Project’ she collaborated closely with Janette Hoe in creating two events for Mapping Melbourne festival, which took audiences on an extraordinary journey through Chinatown(2017) and the Mission to Seafarer’s historic site (2018). In 2020 , she worked with classical Indian/contemporary dance researcher Nithya Nagarajan - creating and performing live music for participatory dance performance at Mpavilion.
Ria has studied directly with master teachers such as the Gundecha Brothers (Dhrupad vocal tradition) Glen Velez(framed drum), and most recently with Austrian master percussionist and rhythm educator, Reinhard Flatischler. She is certified to lead TaKeTiNa rhythm process workshops, inviting musicians and non musicians into an embodied experience of archetypal polyrhythms, through simple movement and voice. Her recent collaborations with actors and dancers have been strongly influenced by this approach.
Her long term passion for collaborating with artists across diverse artforms and cultures, has led her to work on numerous contemporary dance and theatre projects around Australia and Asia over the last 15 years. Ria’s compositions and live music performance for dance works have received Green Room nominations – including Enfold (2016) and Opal Vapour (2013), and an award for her work with Helen Mountfort on Ros Warby’s Tower Suites in 2012.
In 2019 she spent a month in residency (with Melbourne director/writer, Sandra Long) at the Nuart Sculpture Park in Bandung, West Java, working with MainTeater company to create music and vocal scores for a multi-media site specific theatre performance. Hades Fading premiered in Bandung in 2019, and received warm reviews at 2020 AsiaToPa Festival in Melbourne.
Ria’s lifelong fascination with ritual music/dance/theatre of Java and Bali have propelled her to develop powerful contemporary performance/rituals, in response to urban sites. Initiating the ongoing ‘Echoes Project’ she collaborated closely with Janette Hoe in creating two events for Mapping Melbourne festival, which took audiences on an extraordinary journey through Chinatown(2017) and the Mission to Seafarer’s historic site (2018). In 2020 , she worked with classical Indian/contemporary dance researcher Nithya Nagarajan - creating and performing live music for participatory dance performance at Mpavilion.
Ria has studied directly with master teachers such as the Gundecha Brothers (Dhrupad vocal tradition) Glen Velez(framed drum), and most recently with Austrian master percussionist and rhythm educator, Reinhard Flatischler. She is certified to lead TaKeTiNa rhythm process workshops, inviting musicians and non musicians into an embodied experience of archetypal polyrhythms, through simple movement and voice. Her recent collaborations with actors and dancers have been strongly influenced by this approach.