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Live performance recordings of breaking the veil, Julia Anne Cordani's second DMA voice recital at UCSD Music.

reaking the veil is an emergent sonic landscape that tells the stories of medieval women mystics, and through them, reflects on the lived experiences of spiritual women across time in relation to patriarchal structures of power. One part installation, one part theatrical concert presentation, this two-day recital weaves together new work by 8 composers across a variety of media all unified around the central theme.

In part 1, the installation portion, titled breaking the veil (after the program itself), a single vocalist chants for 7 hours straight, punctuated by only brief periods of rest. She alternates between chant melodies from the Liber Usualis, the Catholic Church’s predominant Gregorian chant source text, and original compositions by St. Hildegard von Bingen. Processed via live electronics, the voice is at times elucidated, at times obscured; at times pure, and at times distorted. The vocalist is hidden behind a veil, deliberately cloistered away, with sound she creates wafting through the room but disconnecting from her, disembodied by the distortion of time and space. Here, in this cleaving, the voice transforms, living in the space between us and the divine. This landscape and its configuration are a loosely-inspired recreation of the life experience of anchoress St. Julian of Norwich, a 14th century English religious woman who, after a near-death experience, lived extended periods of her life enclosed in a stone anchorhold at the Norwich Cathedral. She became a local legend; something of a town oracle. Her words were known to carry wisdom and providential divine love (a central component of her written philosophy), and common people and nobles alike would journey from near and far to offer her bread and ask for her spiritual counsel. For the listener, it is a nonlinear journey through musical and theological aesthetics across time. It can be experienced for as long or short as the they desire, by sitting, lying down, or walking around the space at will. The listener is encouraged make their own offering, following the instructions at the entrance, and may receive a piece of wisdom in return. For the vocalist, it is a journey of endurance, conjuring spirituality out of duration, repetition, and transformation. It is an invitation to a mystical experience of one’s own; to gradually inhabiting and conjuring; to becoming the voice of God.

In part 2, over the course of seven individual pieces, the vocalist weaves together an intimate quilt depicting the divine feminine experience. Each square of this quilt is inspired by the stories of medieval religious women, their journeys within and struggles against doctrine and confinement, and their enduring recognition of divine love and hope. Through the singular styles of each composer and after close collaborative work on all of the pieces presented, the program presents a journey through each story, forming a cohesive but non-narrative and nonlinear theatrical experience. This concert is meant to be a continuation, and organic culmination of, yesterday’s installation. Out of reverence for the sacred-adjacent space we are co-creating, this concert was presented as one cohesive experience, with no applause and intentional transitions.

Featuring works by: Julia Anne Cordani, Akari Komura, William Kuo, Ana Luisa Díaz de Cossío, Daniel Cui, Emily Barger, Carlos Felipe Rosas, and Aaron Mencher. With guest performances & assistance by: Emiy Barger, Robbie Bui, Daniel Cui, Ana Luisa Díaz de Cossío, Leanna Keith, Akari Komura, William Kuo, Aaron Mencher, Amir Norouz Nasseri, Lorraine Oliveira, Seonjeong Park, Rose Qianyi Sun, Grace Talaski, and Camilo Zamudio. Lighting by Jessica Flores, sound by Jeremy Olson, and supertitles operated by Andrew Crapitto. Thumbnail photos ©Carlos Felipe Rosas - all rights reserved. With creative direction by Samantha Fox.

Recorded live March 10-11, 2026. Experimental Theater at the Conrad Prebys Music Center, La Jolla, California.