[2] Her music communicates and expresses emotions traditionally or experimentally without allowing a prevailing fashion to dictate style, form, or harmony.

[1] In 1993, Reese was awarded a Faith Partners Residency sponsored by the American Composers Forum and the Otto Bremer Foundation.

During this residency, she collaborated with librettist Delores Dufner OSB, on the dramatic oratorio Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim which 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.