Terry Riley

Legendary composer Terry Riley made his second appearance at MIT for his 80th birthday concert, headlining the 2014-15 season of MIT Sounding.

Terry Riley launched minimalist music with his revolutionary classic In C in 1964—in fact he came to MIT directly from the World Minimal Music Festival, held in his honor at Amsterdam Muziekgebouw in early April 2015. In C (featured at the MIT CAST Marathon in 2013)—which Riley composed on a bus while en route to a gig—has proven seminal, its influence being heard in works by Steve Reich, John Adams, The Who (“Baba O’Riley” is a direct homage), and innumerable electronica artists world wide. In the 50 years since, Riley’s hypnotic, multi-layered, and multi-cultural approach to music has proven equally inspiring and influential.

From his early 1960s 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. His 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, Riley 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.

Riley first came to MIT in 2011, when Gamelan Galak Tika premiered his White Space Conflict for gamelan and electronics. In 2015, MTA and CAST celebrated Riley’s 80th birthday with a concert spanning the depth and breadth of his work and influence. The concert included new works commissioned and performed in Riley’s honor by pianist Sarah Cahill; first-ever improvisations by Riley & EVIYAN (featuring Iva Bittova and Gyan Riley), a spectacular multi-saxophone version of the classic Poppy Nogood, and a reprise performance of White Space Conflict.

Terry Riley’s visit to the Institute was part of MIT Sounding, an innovative annual performance series that blurs the boundaries between contemporary and world music. Curated by Evan Ziporyn, Faculty Director of the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology, the 2014-15 season of MIT Sounding’s diverse offerings range from live performances by new music pioneer Alvin Lucier to early music denizens Boston Camerata and the Grammy Award-winning ensemble Roomful of Teeth.

The 2014-15 MIT Sounding Performance Series is presented by the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) and MIT Music and Theater Arts.

Past Events

88 for 88: A Global Online Real-Time Celebration of Terry Riley’s 88th Birthday

Saturday, June 24, 2023 / Midnight (12:00am EST / 4am GMT)
Hosted virtually by ContaQtFree and open to the public

On the occasion of Terry Riley’s 88th birthday, MIT Sounding and ContaQt hosted a celebratory event that reverberated across the globe. A community of 88 talented musicians hailing from six continents assembled for an unforgettable virtual concert, paying homage to the legendary composer through a mesmerizing real-time performance of Poppy@88, a collective composition arranged by MIT Sounding curator Evan Ziporyn based on Riley’s 1967 masterpiece, Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band.

With Terry Riley himself watching from the Art Tower in Mito, Japan, the global virtual event took place in 64 distinct locations. Canadian composer/sound artist Jeff Morton mixed the 88 streams in real time. Among the performers were Maya Beiser, Claire Chase, Dennis Russell Davies, Paul Dresher, Arnold Dreyblatt, Victor Gama, Lihi Haruvi, Colin Jacobsen, Joan Jeanrenaud, Jaron Lanier, Maki Namekawa, John Oswald, Kala Ramnath, Gyan Riley, Tracy Silverman, and Vân-Ánh Võ.

Watch a recording of the event

Terry Riley’s 80th Birthday Concert
April 18, 2015 / 7:00pm
MIT Kresge Auditorium, MIT Building W16
48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA

Featuring Terry Riley, EVIYAN (featuring Iva Bittova & Gyan Riley), Gamelan Galak Tika, Sarah Cahill, Wallace Halladay and the University of Toronto Saxophone Ensemble, and Eliot Gategno. World premiere of Evan Ziporyn’s all-live multi-saxophone version of Riley’s classic Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band; also world premieres of new works in honor of Terry Riley by Keeril Makan, Elena Ruehr, Christine Southworth.

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.

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.

More at the artist’s website: Terry Riley.

Los Angeles Times: Music Review: Terry Riley: “Olson III,” Jacaranda at Santa Monica First Presbyterian Church

The Guardian: A guide to Terry Riley’s music

New York Magazine: Terry Riley’s In C, the founding work of minimalism, finally makes it to Carnegie Hall