Gifted Iravati has a heart for music

Tania Budihardjo, Contributor, Jakarta

Meeting Iravati M. Sudiarso, one of Indonesia's most respected musical figures and the director of academic affairs at Yayasan Pendidikan Musik (YPM), was a moment to remember.

I am in the auditorium of the Paramount restaurant at one of YPM's numerous Golden Concerts, which are held to commemorate its 50th anniversary, trying to catch up with the understandably busy Iravati.

She is a tiny, dignified lady wearing a traditional outfit in red with a fashionable "peasant" pattern, although I doubt that she was intending to be hip. From the back her bouffant hairstyle almost looks as if it was borrowed from the 1960s. Her thickly painted face combined with her outfit lends her the appearance of a China doll.

But no matter what she looks like, I would have still been in awe because I and countless others know what those fingers of hers can do.

As it is slightly past dinner time, the audience animatedly flocks toward the buffet tables on the other side of the room. Iravati invites me to join them.

About a half hour later, Iravati and I are sitting at a plain table on the more deserted side of the room. As she is the biggest notable at the event, Iravati is ironically the last to begin eating.

"I can't eat around big crowds," she said, an interesting confession coming from someone whose career constantly puts her in contact with a lot of people.

As I learn later, Iravati is surprising in a number of ways. She is prestigious but down-to-earth, worldly wise but sensitive. Her manner is somewhat reserved, but her words are full of remarkable passion. Although she speaks with a self-assured poise cultivated from years of fame, she is anything but artificial. Iravati is not trying to fulfill any preconceived notions about herself.

In between her mouthfuls of rice, and with an admirable effort to articulate herself in English, Iravati gave me a glimpse of the personality behind the personage.

"In my career, everything is a challenge," said the musical magnate. Beginning piano lessons at age five with her mother, Iravati probably was reading music before written words. "She instilled in me a love for the piano," said Iravati.

She went on to study under composer Leon Orthel in 1955 at The Hague Royal Conservatory of Music. After graduating with a prize for Interpretation, Iravati continued her studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in the U.S. In that same year, she performed as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra to inaugurate the new Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

With her schooling finished, Iravati chose to devote her life to teaching and performing in Indonesia. She won a number of awards, including cultural awards from Australia and Japan. She led an ASEAN International Youth Music workshop all over Southeast Asia. In 1988, Iravati was appointed as the director of academic affairs at YPM, a position she continues to maintain.

Known for her expressive renditions of classics, even Iravati's simple English cannot hide her astonishing passion for music.

"I have to be an artist because I have to eat spiritually. You die if you don't play. I don't want that to happen to me because then I can't give anything to anybody." She paused to work on her dinner, giving me time to feel a jolt of amazement and wonder if the church would make her a patron saint of music. And I had spoken to this woman for less than 10 minutes.

"Mozart is a sublime example of something beyond human reach," she said, after struggling to describe her profound feelings. "Everybody talks about Mozart but I don't think half of them really understands what his music is about. His music does a lot," she added emotionally.

Iravati's tendency to describe music in deeply spiritual terms seems to especially extend to Russian music. "When I went to Russia, I discovered this: Even though they have to be Communists by their ideology, they have never been Communists. Their music tells me that it's from God. Russian music is a very special, a spiritual way of expression."

Although I have never heard Iravati play, her words are positive proof that the reports of her famously expressive way of playing are true. This deep connection to music also translates into Iravati's love for teaching.

"I want to create persons. I don't want everyone to play the piano like a machine."

Iravati's open-mindedness also makes her appreciative of many genres of music. In 1979, for instance, she was made an honorary member of the cultural society in Korea. As Iravati reasoned: "Music cannot be put into boxes. Classical music is related to jazz, jazz is related to pop, pop is related to so many other things. Good music is good music."

At this point, I anticipated the question all you cultural sophisticates are thinking: What does Iravati think of Britney Spears? "A gift from God's hand. She's not just beautiful. Something like that happens only once in so many years."

Yes, that one raised my eyebrows, too.

An open-minded, expressive, immensely passionate pianist -- could Indonesia be any luckier? Yes, it could -- they could have another gifted talent: Iravati's daughter, Aisha.

"I found out that we have the same ideas, we have the same vision and we have the same goals. Then I discovered that we are from the same wood," said the happy mother.

As we walk toward the exit, Iravati takes the time to politely thank the busboys with a kind smile.

As we approach the door a waiter graciously offers Iravati the large, lovely vase of flowers by the door. One of Iravati's coworkers carries the vase out for her, but when we reach her car, Iravati turns and gives them to me. I thank her profusely.

With a vase of flowers from her in my backseat, I ride home feeling very special.