Celebrating Terry Riley

It's not very often you get a chance to hear the most vibrant and convivial member of the OG Minimalist crew play for free. But on Fri 20—for the first program in a three-night tribute to the composer organized by the Original Music Workshop and presented as part of the River to River festival—the man will perform a variety of his works. (He'll be joined, variously, by his son Gyan Riley, Tracy Silverman, the Young People's Chorus and others.) Pray that they let him play a little piano all by himself, as recent recordings reveal him to be a gripping solo improviser—more than able to shake himself loose from the reputational bonds of Minimalism in order to play raga-tinged ragtime, or else meditate on "Caravan." On Sat 21, contemporary flutist crusader Claire Chase and Bulgarian percussionist Svet Stoyanov will play music by Marcus Balter, as well as an arrangement of Riley's Tread on the Trail. And on Mon 23, Finnish accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen will present an original work advertised as a nod to Riley's influence.