Renowned Indonesian singer and composer Peni Candra Rini was raised in a small fishing village in East Java, first studying voice at the age of 5 under her father, a village shadow master. She is a master of several traditional forms and is regarded as one of Indonesia’s most daring young composers, one of only a handful of female composers in the majority Muslim nation. She is a former recipient of grants from the Asian Cultural Council, is a two-time grantee of the US State Department’s One Beat Program and in 2022 was named an Aga Khan Foundation laureate of the arts. 

At Barbès, a day after her Carnegie Hall debut with Kronos Quartet, she will present an evening of traditional and experimental music from Java, accompanied by Andy McGraw (percussion) and Curt Sydnor (organ).