In Memoriam Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

From the age of thirteen I have been practicing Transcendental Meditation (TM) and from eighteen I have been a practitioner of the advanced TM Sidhi technique. So, from an early age I understood that there are many levels of human consciousness; and this experience has had a profound effect on my creative work over the years.

In Memoriam Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was composed in 2009, a year after the death of the Indian Vedic spiritual leader Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who brought Vedic knowledge to the West from the 1950s onwards. It was composed at the Valparaiso Residency in Mojacar (Spain) and in London.

The work is in three movements. The first is a gentle portrait of Maharishi, with the piccolo playing a central role. The second, fast movement attempts to capture the extraordinary feelings one experiences while practicing the ‘flying’ techniques where the chakras are often completely opened and become the conduit of an inexplicable
energy. The last movement tries to capture the complete calm that TM brings to the body and mind. Its recurrent five chords recall the date Maharishi passed (5 February 2008) and the work dissolves into pure breath, which itself dissolves into pure transcendental consciousness.

The work was premiered by the USP Filarmônica de Ribeirão Preto (Brazil) conducted by Rubens Russomanno Ricciardi at the 2009 Riberão Preto Biennale of music. The performance here was given by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland 29 April 2022 under the baton of Stefan Asbury at the National Concert Hall for the New Music Dublin festival.