Zachary Hejny is a California-born composer and performer of experimental music currently based in Indonesia. His artwork explores polytemporality, incidental tuning systems, ecological sound structures, and philosophies of noise. Current projects include the design of an electro-acoustic percussion instrument using found materials, an environmental sound map, an album of etudes for drum set and synthesizer, a metronome practice aid for Balinese kendang tunggal and various music for visual media. He received a DMA in composition from UC Santa Cruz in 2021 and recently completed a Fulbright research grant focusing on relationships between traditional music practices in Lombok, Bali, and East Java.
Zachary participates in various contemporary music scenes on Bali, primarily as an avid student of gender wayang, gamelan composer, and performing sound artist. Previous involvement with Balinese music involves a Darmasiswa cultural immersion scholarship (2012), a master’s degree from ISI Denpasar (2015), numerous festival commissions (including the Bali Arts Festival in 2017), and a Fulbright research grant (2023). He also volunteers as an Assistant Director and board member for Insitu Recordings, where he helps edit a digital magazine, maintain an archive of historical gamelan recordings, and document and promote creative work by emerging Balinese composers.
As an educator, Zachary has taught electronic music and gamelan at UC Santa Cruz, given numerous invited lectures and seminar presentations throughout Bali, and occasionally mentored younger composers in electronic music techniques.
Aside from music, he is an avid reader, language learner, chess addict, and anti-imperialist.
