Introducing the Veil of the Temple (2003)

I regard The Veil of the Temple as the supreme achievement of my life and the most important work that I have ever composed. It lasts well over seven hours throughout the night until dawn. It is composed in eight cycles like a gigantic prayer wheel with each cycle ascending in pitch and in cycles 1 to 7 using verses from St. John's Gospel at the center. The music was deeply influenced by orthodox vigil services, but I wanted to go beyond Christianity and embrace Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism and the religion of the American Indians. The soprano solo represents both the Self, Atma, and Mary Magdalene as apostolorum. She journeys through the eight cycles, reaching a total realization of Self at the end of the last cycle where she recognizes Christ' s divinity. By the act of writing The Veil I understood that no single religion could be exclusive. The Veil has become light - there is no longer any veil. This tearing away of the Veil shows that all religions are in the transcendent way inwardly united beneath their outward form.