April 18, 2015, Kresge Auditorium
Terry Riley celebrates his 80th performing at MIT with other artists including Eviyan, Sarah Cahill and Gamelan Galak Tika. Presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) and MIT Sounding performance series.
About the Artist
Terry Riley launched what is now known as the Minimalist movement with his revolutionary classic In C in 1964. This seminal work provided a new concept in musical form, based on interlocking repetitive patterns. Changing the course of 20th century music, In C‘s influence has been heard in the works of many prominent composers.
MIT Sounding’s 2014-15 season concludes with a marathon celebration of Terry Riley’s 80th birthday, including the premiere of a reimagined classic — a multi-saxophone, live version of Riley’s 1969 Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band, newly arranged by Evan Ziporyn.
Terry Riley’s hypnotic, multi-layered, polymetric, brightly orchestrated Eastern-flavored improvisations set the stage for the prevailing interest in a new tonality. From his early 60s tape loop and trance music experiments and collaborations with La Monte Young to his study of Hindustani musical traditions, Riley is a true musical innovator.
Riley’s recordings of In C, A Rainbow in Curved Air, Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band and the Church of Anthrax were all issued by CBS Masterworks in 1968-69. In 1970, Terry became a disciple of the revered North Indian Raga Vocalist Pandit Pran Nath, appearing frequently in concert with the legendary singer as a tampura, tabla and vocal accompanist. His long-standing collaboration with David Harrington, founder and leader of the Kronos Quartet, has produced thirteen award-winning string quartets, a quintet, and a concerto for string quartet. Riley’s Cadenza on the Night Plain was selected by both Time and Newsweek as one of the ten best classical albums of the year. The epic five quartet cycle, Salome Dances for Peace, was selected as the #1 Classical album album of the year by USA Today and was nominated for a Grammy. The orchestral piece Jade Palace was commissioned by Carnegie Hall for the Centennial celebration in 1990/91.
Learn more about Terry Riley.