Aloysius Suwardi studied gamelan music at high school conservatory (Kokar) then at the Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia (ASKI, college conservatory) in Surakarta. He completed his M.A. in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University, U.S.A. in 1997 sponsored by The Ford Foundation and Asian Cultural Council.
In 1985 – 87 he was a Fulbright visiting scholar to the US; teaching at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio; Michigan University, Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Wisconsin University, Madison, Wisconsin. He was very often teaching gamelan at Simon Fresher University, Canada, B.C. In 1999 and 2001 he thought gamelan at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia and was one of the Monash Silver Jubilee recipients to pursue a Ph.D. in Music Composition at Monash, but he decided to discontinue the program.
He developed a fine reputation as a composer, gamelan teacher, gamelan player (both traditionally and contemporarily), gamelan tuner and restorer, experimental-instrument maker, so it is not surprisingly that he obtains an appellation of “a man of many talents.”
As a composer, Suwardi is best known for works that make use of his own experimental instruments. His compositions were performed in many different cities in the world to participate in new music festival such as: Indonesian-American Cultural Exhibition in the U.S. and Canada; The First International Music Festival in Samarqand, Uzbekistan; Asian-Composer League in Bangkok, Thailand; Island to Island Festival in London, U.K; National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa; International Gamelan Festival Amsterdam, Holland; Art Summit Indonesia III, and many others.
