Peni Candra Rini with Shahzad Ismaily & Andy McGraw / Alex Koi x Kirin McElwain
Peni Candra Rini, a renowned Javanese singer, educator, and composer, presents music that connects Javanese Sufi poetry with contemporary composition and Indonesian and Western instruments. She performs with Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and engineer Shahzad Ismaily and music scholar and gamelan facilitator Andy McGraw.
The program also features Alex Koi and Kirin McElwain, whose collaborative work combines voice, cello, and modular synthesizer. Their experimental music draws on jazz, improvisation, avant-garde and electronic traditions, as well as contemporary classical and Baroque influences.
When: Saturday, October 24, 2026
Schedule: Doors open at 6:30 PM; the show begins at 7:00 PM. The event is scheduled through 10:00 PM.
Tickets: $20–30
Venue: Rhizome DC
Presented by: Secret Planet
Lineup: Peni Candra Rini with Shahzad Ismaily and Andy McGraw; Alex Koi and Kirin McElwain
Peni Candra Rini: Rini is a master of several traditional Javanese forms, particularly gamelan, and is considered one of Indonesia’s leading younger composers and one of its few female composers. Her international work includes multiple tours as the featured singer in Robert Wilson’s *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, she became the first woman commissioned to compose for the Mangkunegaran court of Central Java; in 2024, the court bestowed on her the name Raden Nganten Tumenggung, its highest honor. An album of her string quartets, performed by Kronos, is scheduled for release by Phenotypic in October 2026.
Shahzad Ismaily: Ismaily is a Brooklyn-based musician, composer, recording engineer, and founder of Figure 8 Recording. The Grammy-nominated artist works with electric bass, drums, percussion, guitar, synthesizers, and other sound-making instruments, exploring improvisation, changing tonal centers, and rhythmic motion. His credits include dance, theater, and film projects, including *Frozen River* and work with the butoh ensemble Inkboat. He is also associated with *Love In Exile*, which won the Grammy for Best Alternative Jazz Album.
Andy McGraw: McGraw is 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*, and he has co-edited volumes on Indonesian music. His writing addresses music, ethics, and rhythm in Balinese, Javanese, and Cuban traditions. He leads community gamelan and string-band ensembles in Richmond and operates a music program in Virginia’s prison system.
Alex Koi and Kirin McElwain: Their duo creates original music for voice, cello, and modular synthesizer. Their planned album, *Wake*, is slated for spring 2027, and they expect to tour the project internationally during the 2026–2028 seasons.
Kirin McElwain: McElwain is a cellist and composer working across experimental, contemporary classical, and improvised music. Her sound combines classical and Baroque elements with deep electronic bass and abrasive textures, while engaging themes including 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 work has also appeared in installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, James Cohan Gallery, and Neue Galerie, as well as at Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, the Kimmel Center, Roulette, and other venues.
Alex Koi: Koi is a composer, vocalist, and improviser whose work draws from jazz, improvised music, avant-garde practices, and electronic sound. She has been described as both primal and futuristic, and performed 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*. Her former long-running band, Saajtak, was known for its unconventional and difficult-to-classify sound. Koi has received support from the Church of Noise, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and YoungArts, and has held residencies at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute in 2024 and 2026.
Run time: Not specified.