Otto Sidharta

Who is Otto Sidharta?

Otto Sidharta is an Indonesian Composer. He is known for his electronic music.

Otto Sidharta finished his post-graduate study in composition and electronic music composition at Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam under the guidance of Professor Ton de Leeuw.

Sidharta's interest in using environmental sounds to express his musical ideas developed when he was a student at the Jakarta Institute of Arts. He performed his first electronic music piece, Kemelut, based on water sounds in the First Indonesian Young Composer Festival in 1979. In 1982 he collected some nature and animal sounds on Nias, in the Borneo jungle, and other remote places in Indonesia. These sounds were used as material for some of his works such as Ngendau, Hutan Plastik and East wind.

Beside being a composer, Sidharta is Chairman of both the Music Committee of Jakarta Art Council and Indonesian Composers Association. He teaches at Jakarta Institute of Arts and in Cantus. Furthermore, he is the Music Director for the National Symphony Orchestra.