Peni Candra Rini with Shahzad Ismaily & Andy McGraw / Alex Koi x Kirin McElwain

Secret Planet presents an evening pairing Javanese musical tradition with experimental, contemporary performance. The program opens with Peni Candra Rini, a celebrated Javanese singer, educator, and composer, performing with Brooklyn musician Shahzad Ismaily and music scholar Andy McGraw. Rini’s work brings Javanese Sufi poetry into dialogue with contemporary composition for Indonesian and Western instruments.

The second set features Alex Koi and Kirin McElwain, whose original music combines voice, cello, and modular synthesizer. Their collaboration draws on improvised music, avant-garde and electronic sounds, classical influences, and richly textured experimentation.

When: Saturday, October 24, 2026

Schedule: Doors open at 6:30 PM, with the show beginning at 7:00 PM. The event is scheduled to run until 10:00 PM.

Tickets: $20–$30

Venue: Rhizome DC

First performance: Peni Candra Rini with Shahzad Ismaily and Andy McGraw

Peni Candra Rini: Rini is a Javanese singer, educator, and composer known for combining Javanese Sufi poetry with new compositions for traditional Indonesian and Western instruments. A specialist in forms including gamelan, she is recognized as one of Indonesia’s leading younger composers and among the country’s few prominent women composers. Her international work includes extensive touring and serving as the featured singer in Robert Wilson’s production *I La Galigo*. She has received support from the Asian Cultural Council, the U.S. State Department’s One Beat and Fulbright programs, and the Aga Khan Foundation, which named her a 2022 arts laureate.

In 2023, Rini became the first woman commissioned to compose for the Mangkunegaran court of Central Java. The following year, the Raja granted her the court name Raden Nganten Tumenggung, the court’s highest honor. In October 2026, Kronos is scheduled to release an album of her string quartets on the Phenotypic label; some of those works have appeared on NPR’s *Tiny Desk* series.

Shahzad Ismaily: Ismaily is a Brooklyn-based musician, composer, recording engineer, and founder of Figure 8 Recording. The son of Pakistani immigrants, he grew up in a bicultural household and has spent roughly three decades exploring improvisation, tonal change, and rhythm. A Grammy-nominated artist associated with *Love In Exile*, he performs on electric bass, drums, percussion, guitar, synthesizers, and other sound-making instruments. His work also includes music for dance, theater, and film, including *Frozen River* and projects with the California-Swiss butoh company Inkboat.

Andy McGraw: McGraw is a professor and chair of music at the University of Richmond. His books include *Radical Traditions: Reimagining Culture in Balinese Experimental Music* and *Music as Ethics*. He has co-edited volumes on Indonesian music and written extensively about music, ethics, and rhythmic structures in Balinese, Javanese, and Cuban traditions. In Richmond, he leads community gamelan and stringband ensembles and directs a music program in Virginia’s prison system.

Second performance: Alex Koi x Kirin McElwain

Alex Koi and Kirin McElwain: This duo creates original music for voice, cello, and modular synthesizer.

Kirin McElwain: McElwain is a cellist and composer whose work spans experimental music, contemporary classical composition, and improvisation. Her music combines classical and Baroque influences with deep electronic bass and abrasive textures, examining ideas of desire, shame, perfection, and belonging. She has performed on film and television scores and with artists including Post Malone, Ioanna Gika, and This Will Destroy You. Her credits also include mixed-media installations at venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Cohan Gallery, and Neue Galerie, as well as performances at Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, the Kimmel Center, and Roulette.

Alex Koi: Koi is a composer, vocalist, and improviser whose music draws from jazz, improvised music, avant-garde practice, and electronics. Her performances have been described as both primal and futuristic and as exceptionally beautiful. She played the combined roles of Tracy Dunn and Jillian Gilchrist in Toshi Reagon’s Off-Broadway production of *Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower*. Koi’s former long-running band, Saajtak, was noted for its unusual and difficult-to-classify sound.

Koi has received grants from the Church of Noise, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and YoungArts, and held residencies at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute in 2024 and 2026. Her upcoming album *Wake*, made with McElwain, is planned for spring 2027. The project is intended to tour internationally during the 2026–2028 seasons, and Koi is also developing music for her debut solo recording.

Age guidance: Not specified on the event page.

Accessibility: Accessibility information is not provided on the event page.