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| Terry Riley Biography Being on the leading edge of contempory music is nothing new for California composer Terry Riley. In 1964 he launched what is now known as the Minimalist Movement with his revolutionary composition In C. This seminal work provided a new concept in musical form based on interlocking repetitive patterns. Its impact was to change the course of 20th Century music and its influence has been heard in the works of prominent composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Adams and in the music of Rock Groups such as The Who, The Soft Machine, Tangerine Dream, Curved Air, and many others. Terry’s hypnotic, multi-layered, polymetric, brightly orchestrated eastern-flavored improvisations and compositions set the stage for the prevailing interest in a New Tonality. In 1970, Terry became a disciple of the revered North Indian Raga Vocalist, Pandit Pran Nath and made the first of his numerous trips to India to study with the Master. He appeared frequently in concert with the legendary singer as tampura tabla and vocal accompianist over the next twenty six years until Pran Nath’s passing in 1996. He has been co-director along with Sufi Murshid, Shabda Kahn of the Chisti Sabri India music study tours since 1993. This yearly two week study program in India is designed to give students a deeper insight into Pran Nath’s profound contributions to the Classical music of India. Terry now regularly performs Raga as a vocalist along with his teaching seminars. While teaching at Mills College in Oakland in the 1970’s, Terry met David Harrington, founder and leader of the Kronos Quartet. Together they began the long association that has so far produced 12 string quartets, a quintet Crows Rosary and a concerto for string quartet, The Sands which was the Salzburg Festival’s first ever new music commission. Cadenza on the Night Plain was selected by both Time and Newsweek as one of the 10 best Classical albums of the year. The epic 5 quartet cycle, Salome Dances for Peace was selected as the #1 Classical album of the year by USA Today and was nominated for a Grammy. Riley’s innovative first orchetral piece, Jade Palace was commissioned by Carnegie Hallfor the Centennial Celebration 1990/91. It was premiered there by Leonard Slatkin and the Saint Louis Symphony. June Buddha’s, For Chorus and Orchestra, based on Jack Kerouac’s Mexico City Blues was commissioned by the Koussevitsky Foundation in 1991. The Rova Saxophone Quartet, Array Music, Seitgeist, the Steven Scott Bowed Piano Ensemble, The California E.A.R. unit, Guitarists David Tanenbaum, the Assad Brothers, the Abel Steinberg-Winant Trio, Pianist Werner Bartschi, and the Amati Quartet are some of the performers and ensembles who have commissioned and performed Terry Riley’s works. From 1989 to 1993 Terry formed and led the ensemble Khayal to perform works written for them. He regularly performs solo piano concerts of his works from the past 30 years. He also appears in duo concerts with Indian Sitarist Krishna Bhatt, Saxophonist George Brooks and Italian bassist Stefano Scodanibbio. In 1992, he formed the small theater company, The Travelling-Avantt-Gaard to perform the chamber opera The Saint Adolf Ring based on the divinely mad drawings, poetry, writings and mathematical calculations of Adolf Woelfli, an early 20th Century Swiss Artist who suffered from schizophrenia and created his entire output over a thirty five year span while confined in a mental institution. Riley's The Book of Abbeyozzud, 1995, is a beautiful display of Spanish-tinged guitar music, featuring David Tanenbaum and son, Gyan on guitars. Riley also tours with Paul Dresher's electro-acoustic ensemble. Terry Riley was listed in The London Sunday Times as “one of the 1000 makers of the 20th Century. Recently rated on three (of eight) critics top ten lists in the New York Times "The Year in Music: The Critics' Choices," Terry Riley marks his seventieth year with much deserved success and acclaim, ranking on the charts next to Bach and Bob Dylan as the year's best composers ranging from Classical music to Pop and Rock! |
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