Trivia

He is the son of songwriter June Carroll, from her first marriage.

Composer Jonathan Carroll is his half-brother.

His last name is pronounced "rysh".

Julliard classmate with Arthur Murphy and Philip Glass.

Received his master's in music composition from Mills College in 1963.

Studied in Ghana with drummer Gideon Alorworye.

While attending Cornell he earned money playing drums in various live bands.

In 2005 he was awarded the Edward MacDowell Medal.

In May 2011 he received an honorary doctorate from the New England Conservatory of Music.

In March 2016 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Royal College of Music in London.

In September 2014 he was awarded the "Leone d'Oro" (Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Music) from the Venice Biennale.

In 2012 he received the Gold Medal in Music by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Was awarded with the Praemium Imperiale Award in Music in October 2006.

Interned with French composer Darius Milhaud and Italian sound-collagist Luciano Berio.

Graduated from Cornell University in 1957 with a B.A. in Philosophy and a minor in music. His B.A. thesis was on Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Mother June Carroll (nee Sillman) wrote the song "Love Is A Simple Thing" and sang it on Broadway.

Studied composition at the Julliard School (1958-1961).

Studied Balinese music at the Center for World Music in Berkeley and Seattle.

On April 20, 2009 he was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music, recognizing Double Sextet, first performed in Richmond March 26, 2008. The citation called it "a major work that displays an ability to channel an initial burst of energy into a large-scale musical event, built with masterful control and consistently intriguing to the ear".

On January 25, 2007 he was named 2007 recipient of the Polar Music Prize with jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins.

In 2013 he received the US$400,000 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in contemporary music for bringing a new conception of music, based on the use of realist elements from the realm of daily life and others drawn from the traditional music of Africa and Asia.