I composed this work at the request of my dear friend William Harvey—violinist and founder of Cultures in Harmony. Since 2005, this organization has been a vanguard of cultural diplomacy, forging understanding by connecting American musicians with local communities across the developing world through collaborative performance and creation.

In classical music, a passacaglia is a form built upon a "ground"—a bass line that remains constant while a kaleidoscope of variations unfolds above it. To celebrate their tenth anniversary in 2015, Cultures in Harmony traveled to former project sites around the globe, using this specific musical form as a metaphor for our shared humanity.

The symbolism is profound: just as the variations of a passacaglia shift in character, rhythm, and color while anchored to the same bedrock, the people of the world embody a vast array of cultural differences while sharing a common "ground" of universal values and aspirations. In a world often fractured by misunderstanding, this work serves as a reminder that we are all variations on a single theme: the fundamental desire to live in peace and mutual respect.