It’s not often that someone calls you to ask if you’ll write music for a giant live ceremony, on the scale of an Olympics opening ceremony.

This was an intimidating job at first, but once I got my head around the idea that this was music for the people who would want to visit the ancient site Ad Diriyah it became less of a scary endeavor and more a way to engage multiple cultures and bring them together so they can marvel at what great things humankind can do.

There’s just something so positive about writing music like this. I always say music knows no boundaries and doesn’t care about politics or borders, and this was one way I could put my mind to actually living that idea rather than just talking about it.

This was for a live performance at the The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site at Ad Diriyah, to commemorate opening the site to tourism. It included a spectacular fireworks show, lasers, more than a hundred dancers and puppeteers, lighting effects and drone effects all set to a live performance by the Prague Symphony Orchestra.

The broadcast reached millions of people in the Middle East.