Gyan Riley: Guitar at Carlson Theatre

Gyan Riley comes to Carlson Theatre at Bellevue College on Friday December 4th at 7:30pm. General admission is $20. BC faculty and staff pay $15. BC students with valid ID get in free. Get tickets at the Bellevue College Guitar Series ticketing page.

Gyan Riley

Gyan Riley guitar Seattle audiences will hear is described by The New Yorker as "a one-man American-music machine, amicably ranging across the fields of jazz, world music, and post-minimalism." He won his first guitar in a raffle at age twelve. It soon became difficult for his parents to wrestle it from his hands.

He first immersed himself in classical guitar on scholarship at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In his twenties he turned to composition, writing music for the Kronos Quartet, Carnegie Hall Corporation, New Music USA, and documentary filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. He has performed with Zakir Hussain, Lou Reed, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, Arooj Aftab, and his father — the renowned composer Terry Riley. Most recently Gyan performed with Paul Simon and Sabrina Carpenter for the 50th Anniversary of Saturday Night Live and toured with Paul Simon's band on the 2025 and 2026 A Quiet Celebration tours. In September 2026 David Byrne's Luaka Bop label releases the debut album by HUG, a trio of Devendra Banhart, Noah Georgeson, and Gyan.

About the Bellevue College International Guitar Series

The Bellevue College International Guitar Series brings world class guitarists to Carlson Theatre for intimate evenings of performance. The series is open to the public and free for BC students.