On June 21st, anyone who can get to Times Square is invited to sing in a world premier piece of music. NPR has commissioned Philip Glass to compose a piece of music that is accessible to singers of all abilities. The occasion is to honor Glass’ 75th birthday.

The piece is titled The New Rule and is a short, eight-part choral setting of text by the Sufi poet Rumi. If you are unfamiliar with Rumi, he was a medieval poet in the Islamic tradition of Sufism. The basic tenet of Sufism is "a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God".

Rumi can be compared to medieval Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avilla, and St. John of the Cross. In many ways, these Christian mystic agree with Rumi in their experience of the divine.

“Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.” –Meister Eckhart

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” --Rumi

I love the idea of setting Rumi. I’m not aware of any other settings. If you want the sheet music to this piece, here you go.

http://media.npr.org/assets/music/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/05/glass_new_rule.pdf