Minimalist only begins to describe the ever-changing music of one of America's most productive and influential composers. With a foundation in Bach and Mozart, the onetime New York taxi driver was inspired by the rhythms of India to concoct complex, repetitive structures containing myriad harmonic inversions. Landmark works such as "Music in 12 Parts" and "Einstein on the Beach"—as well as innumerable symphonies, concertos, and works for his own group—have made the Buddhist activist a prolific and omnipresent figure in New York culture.