Bandung composer, musician, educator and music director Iwan Gunawan, S. Pd, M. Sn. (b. 1974), among West Java’s leading composers today, began playing Sundanese gamelan at the age of six. He studied composition with Dieter Mack
<http://www.composers21.com/compdocs/mackd.htm>   and piano with Iswargia R. Sudarno
<http://www.renevanhelsdingen.com/web/jakart@2004/Iswargia%20R.%20Sudarno.htm>  at IKIP Bandung (now Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, UPI) from 1993–98. He later studied composition with Suka Hardjana, Slamet Abdul Sjukur <http://www.composers21.com/compdocs/sjukursa.htm> , and with Rahayu Supanggah at the Institut Seni Indonesia Surakarta (Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Surakarta), 2005–07. He also attended workshops in composition by Roderik de Man <http://www.composers21.com/compdocs/manr.htm>  and in piano
by Hansjörg Koch.
During his music studies at IKIP/UPI, he focused not only on his native
Sundanese traditions, but also on Western conventions. He has forged an unusual musical career which places value on both his own West Javanese roots as well as on composing and performing Western music at a professional level. In his compositions he uses contemporary structures, international instrumentation and sometimes live electronics, engaging with a wide range of music made today from vernacular to hybrid experimental forms.
Among Gunawan’s recent honours: a 2017 residency at the Künstlerhaus Villa Waldberta in Feldafing, Germany; an invitation to the 2018International Gamelan Festival in Munich, Germany where he led his gamelan group Kyai Fatahillah in several concerts; and a 2019 residency at the Indonesian Embassy, London, England where he collaborated with UK gamelan communities.
His music has been performed in Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, Cyprus, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, UK, Uzbekhistan and Vietnam.
Encountering difficulties getting his work performed, as has been the case with many international composers Gunawan established his own gamelan-based ensemble Kyai Fatahillah in 2004 to showcase his own and other contemporary works. The group gave its first formal concert at the Contemporary Gamelan Festival held at the House of World Cultures in Berlin, Germany.
The success of Kyai Fatahillah’s Berlin premiere reinforced the proposition that gamelan and Western musical aesthetics are not necessarily contradictory - but rather that they could be complementary. They could enrich one another as long as there was adequate mutual understanding and rehearsal time in line with musical needs.
The 2004 Berlin concert marked the start of Gunawan’s European career,
particularly in Holland where he gained the support of Dutch impresarios Piet Hein van de Poel and Rob van de Bos of Anmaro Asia Arts. With their support Iwan has spent a number of highly creative and productive years working not only on traditional Sundanese music, but also with Western contemporary concert music. In 2011 Kyai Fatahillah under Gunawan’s direction was chosen to work with Ensemble Mosaik of Berlin in the Southeast Asia Composer’s Competition held by Goethe Institute in Jakarta, Indonesia. Gunawan continues to represent Indonesia on the international stage as artistic collaborator, composer, musician and ensemble leader. Ghost Track and LIGHT is a collective composition including modern dance choreography which he developed in collaboration with the LeineRoebana Dance Company
<https://www.leineroebana.com/> . The work has been performed to acclaim on various European and Indonesia stages.
In addition to his teaching duties at the Departemen Pendidikan Seni Musik, FPSD UPI in Bandung, Gunawan is also currently developing national and international collaborative projects, including one with Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan in Toronto, Canada.