Krisna Setiawan was born in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city. His first serious encounter with music came when he was ten and heard a friend’s electronic organ. He asked his parents to buy him an organ but instead his father bought an acoustic guitar, reasoning that a guitar doesn’t need electricity and can be played anytime and anywhere. The young Krisna then took classical guitar lessons for about two years at the Yamaha Music School in Surabaya. Once Krisna’s father realised his son’s interest in music was genuine he bought an electronic organ. Krisna took lessons at Yamaha for several years and eventually gave local concerts. At the age of 12 he took classical piano lessons with a private teacher following suggestions by the Yamaha Music School. Influenced by his jazz-loving father, Krisna studied with the legendary Indonesian jazz maestro Bubi Chen. However Krisna’s parents halted their son’s music education. They said music was a recreational pastime, not a serious occupation, and he had to get other qualifications to earn a living. So Krisna went to university to study electronic engineering and accountancy as the basis for a business career. Years later some of Krisna’s friends encouraged him to return to his first love. Among them was Slamet A Sjukur, the leading Indonesian contemporary composer who he met in 2005. Krisna then started to learn music analysis and composition. Twenty years after quitting music Krisna made his comeback concert debut at Goethe Haus, invited by the German Cultural Center for a classical piano performance. One of his career highlights was a jazz piano duet at a concert with Bubi Chen in 2008. The same year he wrote a collection of New Age pieces for solo piano. These were published by Chuan Yin Publishing in Taiwan and have been retailed in Indonesia, the Netherlands and the United States. Later the Austrian company Bamacher Publishing obtained the copyright and now distributes Krisna’s music worldwide. As a contemporary composer, his pieces for piano, woodwinds, strings and orchestra have been archived in many music libraries. These include the National Taiwan Normal University, the Taipei National University of Arts, the Indonesian Art Institute of Yogyakarta, the LV Music Library of Greece, the Gaudeamus Muziek Centrum and the Fu-Jen Catholic University. The Austrian Composers’ Association, AKM, has registered all Krisna’s compositions. Biography written by Wang Hsiu Chen, enhanced by Kurt Bamacher