The San Francisco Conservatory of Music will grant Terry Riley, one of America’s most influential living composers, the honorary degree of Doctor of Music at commencement ceremonies on May 22. With his landmark minimalist work In C, Riley pioneered a compositional style that has influenced everything from chamber and orchestral music to rock and roll. Having conducted early studies and compositional experiments at the Conservatory, Riley continues to inspire new generations of musicians, including alumni who have recently written and performed works in honor of his 80th birthday at SFCM and at this year’s Switchboard Music Festival.

President David H. Stull says the Conservatory is privileged to honor Riley as a role model for the class of 2015. “His work as a composer is clearly extraordinary, but more important is his impact on musicians and the art form itself. The music of our century would be demonstrably different in his absence; this truth is both a rare phenomenon and a monumental achievement, the full measure of which will not be known for generations to come.”

Terry Riley developed the style that came to be known as minimalism by exploring forms based on interlocking, repetitive patterns. After studying under Conservatory faculty member Robert Erickson during the 1950s, he joined seminal composers such as Steve Reich and Pauline Oliveros in experimenting with electronic techniques at the San Francisco Tape Music Center, co-founded by Conservatory alumnus Ramon Sender ’62. Riley’s work evolved to incorporate influences from gamelan and Indian raga to jazz and to span genres from dance to avant-garde theater. He has written numerous works for Kronos Quartet, including the Grammy-nominated Salome Dances for Peace, and received commissions or premieres from organizations such as Carnegie Hall, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, the Philadelphia Orchestra and New Century Chamber Orchestra. SFCM faculty members including guitarists Sérgio Assad and David Tanenbaum, pianist Sarah Cahill and cellist Jennifer Culp are among the many artists to commission and perform Riley’s music. Even as he turns 80 in June, Riley continues to maintain an active performance schedule.

At this year's commencement, the Conservatory will award 39 Bachelor of Music degrees and 86 Master of Music degrees in the areas of instrumental performance, voice, piano accompanying, composition, conducting and chamber music. Twenty-one postgraduate students will receive a professional studies degree, postgraduate diploma or artist certificate. Family, friends, faculty and staff will gather May 22 at 10:30 a.m. in the Conservatory’s Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall to congratulate and send off the class of 2015.