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Avip Priatna: Popularizing classical music
Avip PriatnaAt 50, music composer/conductor Avip Priatna has reached the point in life that poet Victor Hugo described as the youth of old age
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Avip Priatna
At 50, music composer/conductor Avip Priatna has reached the point in life that poet Victor Hugo described as the youth of old age.
After nearly three decades of bringing the sounds of Indonesia to the world, Avip says he is ready to take the next step: creating a fertile ground in which young musical talents can grow.
With a school, orchestra and choir of his own, Avip says he wants to bring the concept of youth orchestras to the nation. 'I see a lot of young musicians but they don't have any orchestras. I will hand everything to my juniors to manage the orchestra and become the conductor of the orchestra. It's time for them to rise up.'
Avip is not talking about retirement: he plans to supervise the project to ensure it meets the standard of his school, The Resonanz Music Studio & Entertainment.
To celebrate his birthday, which fell on Dec. 29, Avip held several competitions and performances titled '50 Years of Blessings'.
Concerts presented student choirs from Parahyangan Catholic University, Tarumanegara University, Maranatha Christian University, Perbanas Institute, and Bina Nusantara University as well as The Resonanz Children Choir and Shantell Vocal Ensemble.
There is also a gala concert slated to be held at Balai Resital Kertanegara in South Jakarta on Jan. 24 to introduce the work of the winners of the music composition and choir conducting competitions.
Participants competed in composing gratitude-themed songs, sketch singing, rearranging folk songs from outside Java and Bali and in composing orchestral pieces for the poetry of Toeti Heraty N. Roosseno.
For the gala concert, Avip is inviting classical musicians Aning Katamsi, Iswargia R. Sudarno, Farman Purnama and Oerip Santoso to perform.
'They have become special friends in my life journey,' he said. 'I am grateful for what I have achieved in my career as a musician. I want to share it with them and the public through the concert.'
Avip said he owed his success to his long-time friends, especially those from Bandung-based Parahyangan Catholic University, where he studied architecture.
Born in Bogor in 1964 to a Muslim family, Avip said his parents sent him and his siblings to a Catholic elementary school, where they joined the choir.
'The children's vocal course Bina Vokalia was very popular at that time. Our parents wanted us to practice singing, too.'
Singing in choir continued until high school in Bandung, where he sometimes played the piano, a skill he had honed since nine under teachers, such as Oerip Santoso, Rosaline Tambunan and Trisutji Kamal ' all respected musical figures.
Avip was grateful that he missed a chance to join Elfa Secioria's vocal group for an event, since as a substitute pianist as he had to return home to Bogor.
'Otherwise, I would not be as where I am now. I would be more like Yovie,' he said, referring to pop songwriter and composer Yovie Widianto, a pupil of Elfa.
The student choir of Parahyangan University at that time often won competitions, a fact that lured Avip to join as the pianist. 'Being in a choir and classical piano was what my life about during that time,' he said.
When the choir conductor graduated, Avip was appointed leader and started to train his juniors.
'Training them from scratch so that they could read musical sheet and finding solutions to poorly composed songs are the most enjoyable things for me, even to this day.'
For reference, he listened to the records of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Atlanta Symphony, the Vienna Boys' Choir and the Manhattan Transfer for their pop sesibilities.
'At that time, there were no choirs singing a classical repertoire ' only national heroes' songs for Independence Day celebration-related events. It's a shame because those who joined the choir were all so talented and capable of singing classics.'
Avip had graduated when the choir got the chance to join a prestigious international choir competition in Arnhem, the Netherlands in 1995. They won.
The choir repeated its veni-vidi-vici story in ensuing years at different international competitions.
Avip, who met like-minded friends in Parahyangan, had grown fond of classical music and he believed that the local classical music scene would remain lackluster unless the public was presented with quality performances.
He completed his magister artium in choir conducting in 1998 and returned to Indonesia. Together with his fellow choir personnel from Parahyangan who had moved to Jakarta, they formed the Batavia Madrigal Singers.
The need for an orchestral accompaniment led to the establishment of the Jakarta Concert Orchestra (previously named the Jakarta Chamber Orchestra) in 2002 with Toeti Heraty.
'They way I see my life journey as far is that I have to have faith in achieving dreams. Once I take the first step, all doors are opened and the path is formed. For that, I owe many people. Now what's left for me to do is to make Indonesian classical repertoire be popular and be played elsewhere.'
