Photos by Samantha Meuleman

Meeting with the Prince Notonegoro and the Royal Orchestra management this year was markedly different from our early palace meetings a decade ago — less formal, more egalitarian, even collaborative. The musicians themselves joined the brainstorming workshop. His Royal Highness’ goal is to transform the royal orchestra into a full-time professional ensemble within ten years, with MSO guidance. Opening membership beyond the royal court will create real job opportunities for musicians to make a living in Yogyakarta through orchestral music.

At the palace, tutoring both the youth and royal orchestras was enlightening. The players are polite to a fault, finding it difficult to understand that great music sometimes requires assertiveness. It’s a fascinating dichotomy: a hierarchical structure where no one wants to appear bossy. Like the changing of the guard at the palace, the student community has lost its patriarch — the retired Mr Budhi Ngurah, that musical monarch to so many. The new generation of conductors must now shed their hesitance around power and truly take charge if they’re to make a lasting difference.

Music Camp

The joy of familiar faces never fades.

“Do you remember me, Aunty? I was your second violin in 2022.”

“Aunty, I have so many questions for you!”

“Aunty, you must try this Soto Ayam — do you like it?”

We always aim to inject as much musical diversity as possible into each day of camp. This year Michelle devised a brilliantly varied program that pushed every stylistic boundary:

• Handel Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No.1 in G Major – Early-music phrasing worthy of Norrington and Gardiner
• Caerwen Martin Stars Come Out in a Midnight Sky – subdividing precision, a crash course in artificial harmonics
• Danish String Quartet Kristi du Kom – the raw folk power and drive
• Eric Whitaker Sleep – free choral timing and breath as music
• Karl Jenkins Palladio – the machine-like drive of rhythmic unity
• Vishnu Satyagraha Aluna Digdaya for Gegok Lesung – a work of labour, sorrow, and hope, performed on ancient rice mortars by the mesmerising Lesung players, and conducted by their beloved faculty member Danny Ceri

No two pieces were alike, yet their concepts intertwined, reinforcing lessons the students will carry into all future interpretations. We teach technique to reveal meaning. Talent is only the beginning; magic is the result. Everything in between is technical. For this reason, I believe the standard reached its peak this year. Past participants were allowed to re-audition, and the MSO’s expectations have spread like wildfire since that first camp.

What We Learn

We learn that cultures across Indonesia differ vastly, yet common ground always emerges.

In Yogyakarta, hierarchy is not only accepted but celebrated — a way of expressing respect, gratitude, and humility, most evident in the reverence for the royal family.

We learn that religion, like culture, is treated with the same easy respect as food or clothing choices.

We learn to speak slowly and clearly because our words matter deeply to them — they don’t want to miss a single one.

We learn that our Western ideals of individuality and self-expression, often prized at the expense of the group, pale beside such profound communal warmth.

We cannot help but feel that we, the MSO musicians, are in their service, creating something far greater than ourselves: The Harmony of Working Hand in Hand.

The effects are real and lasting. Teachers are changed. Students gain confidence, knowledge, and opportunities — often international ones. The universe, it seems, provides for those who give so wholeheartedly.

Concert Day: 16th October 2025

As always, concert day brings chaos. Running late. Weak air-conditioning. Confusing backstage area. Overloaded amplification. Tricky lighting. A completely different sound in the hall. Both participants and MSO players rattled.

And yet — this is how it always goes, and there’s something oddly comforting about it.

Thanks to Andy’s production team, everything realigns. The concert ends up exceeding every expectation. The students play with poise and professionalism; their solos shine. The group saves its best for the stage. We take risks that pay off and we are left with that rare elation that comes only when the collective triumphs over the individual.