Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim

[4] Music and text express bitterness, anguish, and anger with God who permits tragedy, sorrow and need for comfort, the will to overcome evil, and determination to choose life over death.

[4] Several pieces in Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim are based on the Jewish text and melody “Ani Ma'amin”, a prayer for the dying.

Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim premiered at the Basilica of Saint Mary, Minneapolis (Teri Larson, Music Director) in 1994.

The following year, the Otto Bremer Foundation gave Reese an additional grant to write a symphonic version which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1995.

In 2011, the San José Chamber Orchestra and Chorus released Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim (album), recorded at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California.