B I O
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 and reflects her Australian/Indonesian cultural heritage. Although born in Melbourne, her creative process is often inspired by her life long fascination with Balinese and Javanese cultural traditions. Over the last 10 years, Ria has created and performed music for wide range of independent contemporary dance, theatre and mixed media projects in Australia and Asia. 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 Main Teater company to create music and vocal scores for a multi-media site specific theatre performance. The work will feature at 2020 Asiatopa festival.
Ria’s ongoing 'The Echoes Project' reflects her deep interest in developing powerful contemporary performance/rituals, in response to urban sites. She was the lead collaborator in 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). Ria’s compositions and live music performance for dance works have received Green Room nominations – including Enfold (2016) and Opal Vapour (2013). Both of these performances also featured her unique textile sculptures, and she continues to explore ways to integrate her formal training in fine arts through her exploration of ritual and ceremony in a contemporary context.
A highlight of 2018, was her performance at indigenous gatherings in Bali and Kalimantan with long term collaborator Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal and Australian indigenous artists of the ‘Smoke’ project. As part of this project, Ria was also invited into a 2019 First Nations residency at Bundanon Trust - working with Jade as well as Kirk Page and Anna Leibzeit exploring themes around ceremonial and use of smoke, and it’s connection to current environmental changes.
Ria was invited to share her unique approach to working in cross-cultural collaborations on a panel at Chambermade’s 2018 ‘Hi-Viz’ gathering, which brought together women who work across sound and contemporary performance.Ria’s original music and sound design features in 'Chinese Whispers' - a digital, bilingual graphic novel inspired by the racial and sexual violence that erupted in May 1998 in Indonesia. A self taught songwriter, she has recorded with many ensembles including original compositions with her contemporary world music trio 'Fine Blue Thread' which melds tabla, cello, viola and voice. Ria continues to learn and perform different styles of gamelan and percussion from Indonesia, and often performs the traditional central Javanese vocal repertoire with local groups including Melbourne Community Gamelan. She has been supported to study Javanese as well as classical Indian ‘Dhrupad’ vocal traditions through grants from Ian Potter Cultural Trust and Australia Council.
Ria is also a highly skilled teacher and workshop facilitator, who loves to share her fascination for voice and rhythm. She trained directly with Austrian master percussionist and rhythm educator, Reinhardt Flatischler, the founder of this cutting edge approach called ‘TaKeTiNa rhythm process’. She has run workshops for organisations including Playback Theatre company, and incorporates this approach into her creative process in collaborations.
Her distinct, haunting vocal style and reflects her Australian/Indonesian cultural heritage. Although born in Melbourne, her creative process is often inspired by her life long fascination with Balinese and Javanese cultural traditions. Over the last 10 years, Ria has created and performed music for wide range of independent contemporary dance, theatre and mixed media projects in Australia and Asia. 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 Main Teater company to create music and vocal scores for a multi-media site specific theatre performance. The work will feature at 2020 Asiatopa festival.
Ria’s ongoing 'The Echoes Project' reflects her deep interest in developing powerful contemporary performance/rituals, in response to urban sites. She was the lead collaborator in 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). Ria’s compositions and live music performance for dance works have received Green Room nominations – including Enfold (2016) and Opal Vapour (2013). Both of these performances also featured her unique textile sculptures, and she continues to explore ways to integrate her formal training in fine arts through her exploration of ritual and ceremony in a contemporary context.
A highlight of 2018, was her performance at indigenous gatherings in Bali and Kalimantan with long term collaborator Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal and Australian indigenous artists of the ‘Smoke’ project. As part of this project, Ria was also invited into a 2019 First Nations residency at Bundanon Trust - working with Jade as well as Kirk Page and Anna Leibzeit exploring themes around ceremonial and use of smoke, and it’s connection to current environmental changes.
Ria was invited to share her unique approach to working in cross-cultural collaborations on a panel at Chambermade’s 2018 ‘Hi-Viz’ gathering, which brought together women who work across sound and contemporary performance.Ria’s original music and sound design features in 'Chinese Whispers' - a digital, bilingual graphic novel inspired by the racial and sexual violence that erupted in May 1998 in Indonesia. A self taught songwriter, she has recorded with many ensembles including original compositions with her contemporary world music trio 'Fine Blue Thread' which melds tabla, cello, viola and voice. Ria continues to learn and perform different styles of gamelan and percussion from Indonesia, and often performs the traditional central Javanese vocal repertoire with local groups including Melbourne Community Gamelan. She has been supported to study Javanese as well as classical Indian ‘Dhrupad’ vocal traditions through grants from Ian Potter Cultural Trust and Australia Council.
Ria is also a highly skilled teacher and workshop facilitator, who loves to share her fascination for voice and rhythm. She trained directly with Austrian master percussionist and rhythm educator, Reinhardt Flatischler, the founder of this cutting edge approach called ‘TaKeTiNa rhythm process’. She has run workshops for organisations including Playback Theatre company, and incorporates this approach into her creative process in collaborations.
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