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Terry Riley: Ninety journeys around the sun

2025-06-13T08:56:00

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The trailblazing Californian composer Terry Riley celebrates his 90th birthday this month. David Kettle speaks with him and with some of the musicians who have championed his eclectic, improvisatory music for strings

Terry Riley is in Japan when we speak. ‘I came here in February 2020,’ he explains. ‘I was on a world tour with my son Gyan, and I had a separate trip to Japan for a project on Sado Island. I was going to be here for ten days. Then Covid happened, the tour collapsed, and I had nothing in my calendar, so I started living here.’..

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