“He is the greatest composer of piano music since Sergei Prokofiev,” enthused the Russian Izviestia in 2000 about Terry Riley. Riley brought 20th century classical music to a new place. Short, repetitive phrases, an aleatoric structure – that is how minimalism came into existence with Riley’s 1964 piece In C. He received a diploma from the University of California in Berkley and completed a conservatory in San Francisco. Fascinated by Oriental music, Riley plays the tabla and tambur and has taught ragas – the melodic basis of classical Indian music – at Mills College. He is also a founder of several bands, including Khaval and a small theatre group, The Travelling-Avantt-Gaard. He has collaborated with the outstanding Kronos Quartet, and is also known for his film music, such as for Requiem for a Dream and The Fountain. The album Salome Dances for Peace (1989) brought him a Grammy nomination. London’s Sunday Times put him on the list of the 1,000 most important artists of the past century, and it is Riley that the title of The Who’s cult song Baba O’Riley alludes to.