Poppy 88

• 1. Poppy 88

for Terry Riley on his 88th birthday

"An amazing journey through the sonic ethers of planet earth....it feels like the world itself was singing..."

– Terry Riley, June 24, 2023

On June 24th, 2023, to celebrate Terry Riley's 88th birthday, ContaQt and MIT Sounding presented a global telematic event that resonated – literally - worldwide. At the stroke of midnight EDT, a diverse community of 88 individuals, spread across 60 locations in 23 countries and 6 continents came together online to play music with one another, live and in real-time. With no pre-recorded material, no click tracks, no safety nets or contingency plans, together they performed Poppy 88, a collective composition arranged by Evan Ziporyn, inspired by - and based on - Riley's 1968 recording, Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band