Grebel Community Gamelan Warga Santi
Art Center · Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
About Grebel Community Gamelan Warga Santi
Billed as the only Canadian community Balinese gamelan music ensemble, Grebel Community Gamelan Warga Santi rehearses out of Conrad Grebel University College, part of the University of Waterloo, at 140 Westmount Road North in Waterloo, Ontario. The group plays a set of bronze gamelan instruments from Bali and is led by I Dewa Made Suparta, a teacher from Bali who holds the position of Artist-in-Residence at Grebel. Co-coordinator Professor Maisie Sum, a member of the university's music faculty, also supports the program.
Membership is open to the public and requires no prior experience with gamelan or with reading music; newcomers are offered a free trial class before committing. During the fall term, rehearsals run twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8pm in Room 1209 at Conrad Grebel, with the term beginning in mid-September. A participation fee, set at 50 dollars for the fall 2026 term, covers instruction and instrument use, with donations welcomed separately. The ensemble performs publicly at least once a term alongside the University of Waterloo's Balinese Percussion Ensemble, with a concert held in the Humanities Theatre at Hagey Hall; performers are asked to wear simple black attire for these shows rather than casual clothing.
The ensemble's presence at a Canadian university speaks to a broader pattern of Balinese gamelan study taking root in North American academic music departments over the past few decades, often through a visiting or resident teacher from Bali who trains both students and interested members of the surrounding community. For Indonesians in the Waterloo region, and for anyone drawn to Balinese performing arts, the ensemble offers a rare standing opportunity in Canada to learn the instruments directly from a practicing Balinese musician rather than through recordings or occasional workshops. Contact for registration and scheduling questions runs through Grebel's general phone line or by email to the program's coordinators, and updates on concert dates are posted through the university's music department listings each term.
Address
Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo, 140 Westmount Road North, Waterloo, Ontario, CanadaContact
- Phone: 519-885-0220
Category
Indonesian Art Center in Canada
More Indonesian Art Center in Canada
- Gamelan Madu Sari (SFU) Vancouver, Canada — Art Center