Peni Candra Rini

Dr. Peni Candra Rini, PhD (* Java, Indonesia) is a Javanese singer, composer, and faculty member at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts. The Kronos Quartet has described her as “one of the world’s greatest singers.” She is a master of several traditional forms and is regarded as one of Indonesia’s most daring young composers, one of only a handful of female composers in the majority Muslim nation.

She has performed extensively internationally, including several world tours as the featured singer for Robert Wilson’s I La Galigo. She is a recipient of grants from the Asian Cultural Council, is a two-time grantee of the US State Department’s OneBeat and Fulbright programs, and in 2022 was named an Aga Khan Foundation laureate of the arts.

In 2023 she became the first woman to be commissioned to compose a work for the Mangkunegaran court of Central Java and in 2024 was bestowed the court name Raden Nganten Tumenggung, the highest honor offered by the Raja. In 2024 she completed a suite for string quartet commissioned by the Kronos Quartet and Carnegie Hall. Entitled Segara Gunung the thirty-minute work concerns the impacts of climate change on the Indonesian archipelago, and has been performed by Kronos on major stages throughout the US and Europe.

In 2024, she released two albums on the New Amsterdam label, in collaboration with Shahzad Ismaily, Andy McGraw, and members of Deerhoof, featuring her experimental compositions for Javanese and Western ensembles.