Krishna Bhatt and Gyan Riley

From impermanence to rebirth to interdependence—The World Is Sound shows us that complex philosophical theories can be conveyed in musical form. In this special collaboration inspired by the exhibition, sitar legend Krishna Bhatt and Gyan Riley, the son and successor to Terry Riley’s great musical heritage, will emphasize the cyclical nature of rhythm and melody. Together, they will invoke the Hindustani classical tradition to create a musically and spiritually rich acoustic exploration of music as a metaphor for change and impermanence.

Bhatt and Riley will be accompanied by Shivalik Ghoshal on tabla.

This concert is presented with Harrice Miller Entertainment. Sunny Thakkar is a community partner.

The World Is Sound exhibition is made possible through the generosity of HARMAN. Major support is provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and Rasika and Girish Reddy. The Rubin also thanks Preethi Krishna and Ram Sundaram and contributors to the 2017 Exhibitions Fund.

About the Musicians

Internationally acclaimed performer Krishna Bhatt is a Sangeet (music) guru, composer, scholar, and author of the book Court Singing of Rajasthan: Mand. He represents the Maihar-Senia Gharana school of music made famous by Ustad Allauddin Khan, and is a disciple of the late Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Krishna Bhatt’s innovative style of music combines KhayÄl GÄyaki vocal compositions and Dhrupad TantrakÄri instrumental techniques. He is known for his virtuosity, originality, and depth of feeling in interpreting a wide variety of traditional compositions from legendary musicians such as Nikhil Banerjee, Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Amir Khan, Bade Gulam Ali Khan, and Begum Akhtar.

A prolific composer and a cultural ambassador, Krishna Bhatt has collaborated with Zakir Hussain, Ali Akbar Khan, the Kronos String Quartet, Terry Riley, George Brooks, Jody Stecher, and folk musicians of Rajasthan.

He is the founding director of the Krishna Bhatt Gurukul School of Music, with branches in New York City and Jaipur, India, through which he disseminates knowledge of Hindustani music to students from all over the world.

Gyan Riley won his first guitar in a raffle when he was 12 years old. Shortly after learning all of the songs in his cassette collection by ear, he became the first full-scholarship graduate guitar student at the San Francisco Conservatory. Gyan’s diverse work now focuses on his own compositions, improvisation, and contemporary classical repertoire. Gyan has received commissions from the Kronos Quartet, New Music USA, the Carnegie Hall Corporation, the American Composers Forum, and the New York Guitar Festival. He has performed with Zakir Hussain, Lou Reed, John Zorn, the Kronos Quartet, Lee Ranaldo, Iva Bittova, Julian Lage, the Bang-On-A-Can All-Stars, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, Secret Chiefs 3, the San Francisco Symphony, the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, and his father, the composer, pianist, and vocalist Terry Riley. Various tours have taken him throughout Europe, Canada, Latin America and the US, both as a soloist and in various ensembles. Gyan resides in New York City and frequently performs with the duo Probosci, the trio Eviyan, the electric guitar quartet Dither, and his father Terry Riley. Gyan has four solo CD titles and many ensemble/collaborative recordings, most recently working with the Tzadik Records label in New York.

Shivalik Ghoshal is the Assistant Director of Manjari School of Performing Arts as well as a tabla teacher and musician. He performed the tabla drumming for the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning documentary Born into Brothels (2004). In addition to performing at Lincoln Center with santoor maestro Sri Satnaam Singh, Shivalik has accompanied many maestros, including Pandit Manilal Nag, Smt Girija Devi, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Phalguni Mitra, and Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain. He has received grants from the New Jersey Council of Arts, Namashkar Foundation, and Asian Arts Initiative, as well as a citation from the New Jersey State Legislature. He is the student of tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.