And yet the light returns was composed for the Western Wind Ensemble, in response to their commission for a new piece appropriate for Chanukah, with an emphasis on the theme of light. I chose a text of Rami Shapiro, from his poem “Chanukah” from Accidental Grace; Rami graciously allowed me to rework the text to create a poem for this musical setting. The word “light” is passed around the chorus at the beginning and end of the piece, building chords of shifting colors. The overall structure is A-B-A; with the outside sections in long-phrased melodies focusing on the return of light, and the middle section, more agitated, on the forces in life that “threaten to smother our light.”
And yet the light returns was commissioned for The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble by Francine M. Gordon, through the Zamir Choral Foundation’s Mandell Rosen Fund for New Music. It was given its premiere in New York City in December 2019.
And yet the light returns From within or from without, At the moment of greatest dark, light returns.
Time and events flow beyond our control, sweeping us swiftly on a surging tide. Our fears, our distress, threaten to smother our light, leaving us alone with our demons and the dark.
And yet— From an inner vision or an oft-told tale, from an act of will or the strong arm of a friend, from a heartfelt cry or a lover’s kiss—light returns.
We strive to use our words, our songs, our bodies—our whole being—to work for a better and more just world. When Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma in 1965, they exemplified religious leaders who hear the voice of the prophets and the Psalms as an explicit call to action. In this dramatic and moving composition, Cohen combines the words of Rabbi Heschel after the march—most famously remembered in the phrase “I felt my legs were praying”—with a verse from Psalm 35, which also speaks of one’s very body exclaiming praise, and praise of a God who protects the poor from those who would oppress them.
I have always been a great admirer of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, a great scholar whose philosophy on seeing the world with “radical amazement” has been so influential in both Jewish and Christian thought. But Heschel was much more than a philosopher—he turned his beliefs into actions, most notably in the 1960s civil rights and other social justice movements. When I was commissioned by the Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary (Heschel taught at the Seminary for many years) to write a choral piece, we decided to use words of Heschel for the composition, and I chose his powerful words written after marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the 1965 Selma March. I was struck by the similarity of these words to a well-known verse from Psalm 35, and created a piece interweaving those two texts.
I thank the John Leopold and Martha Dellheim Endowment Fund and the H.L. Miller Cantorial School of the Jewish Theological Seminary, who commissioned this piece for its premiere performance, by the Voces Novae chorus of Louisville, KY, at the May 2019 Cantors Assembly convention in Louisville. Gratitude also to Dr. Susannah Heschel, for permission to use the words of her father in this composition.
From Psalm 35 and the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Kol atzmotai tomarna Adonai mi chamocha! matzil ani meychazak mimenu, v’ani v’evyon migozlo.
[All of my bones exclaim: Adonai, who is like You! saving the weak from the powerful, the needy from those who would prey on them.]
And yet our legs uttered songs— The march from Selma was a protest, a prayer. Even without words, our march was worship, I felt my legs were praying!
Performances
Premiere: May 2019: Voces Novae chorus and students of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School, Deborah Dierks, cond.; Cantors Assembly convention, Louisville, KY
January 2020: Interfaith Special Concert Chorus, Providence, RI. Brian Mayer, Conductor
Feb 2023: Tonality Chorus, UCLA Chamber Choir, Alexander Lloyd Blake, Conductor. (Event Link)
Miryam HaN’viyah by Gerald Cohen, sung by HaZamir at its 2022 Gala Concert
About
The text of Miryam Han’via (“Miriam the Prophet”) was written by Leila Gal Berner in 1987 to celebrate the role of Miriam in the Passover story, and as one of the early efforts to include Miriam in contemporary Jewish liturgy as a central female Biblical leader. The poem was written to be used in both the Passover Seder as as part of Havdalah, the ceremony at the conclusion of each week’s Shabbat. Later, I was asked to write several melodies for The Open Door, a new Passover Haggadah, and decided to write a new melody for “Miryam Han’via.”
When I was commissioned by the Zamir Choral Foundation to choose one of my melodies for a new choral arrangement for a Community Sing of the 2019 North American Jewish Choral Festival, I was delighted to write this arrangement of “Miryam Han’via,” adding a new niggun (wordless) melody—heard at the very beginning, and then throughout the piece—as a way to expand on the original melody.
The piece was commissioned for HaZamir: the International Jewish Teen Choir by Hynda Feit, in memory of her mother, Muriel R. Schwartz, through the Mandell Rosen Fund for New Music, a program of the Zamir Choral Foundation. Miryam Han’via received its concert premiere by HaZamir in March 2022 at Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center.
text by Rabbi Leila Gal Berner Miriam ha-n’vi’a oz v’zimra b’yada. Miriam tirkod itanu l’hagdil zimrat olam. Miriam tirkod itanu l’taken et ha-olam. Bimheyra v’yameynu hi t’vi’einu el mey ha-y’shua.
Miriam the prophet, strength and song in her hand. Miriam, dance with us in order to increase the song of the world. Miriam, dance with us in order to repair the world. Soon she will bring us to the waters of redemption.
Performances
Premiere: March 2022: HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York, NY July 2022: Hazamir, The International Jewish Teen Choir, American Jewish Choral Festival, Stamford, CT. June 2023: Nashir! chorale, Ben Gruder conductor, Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY.
Premiere of Pitchu Li: Hazamir, the International Jewish Teen Choir, Scott Stein, cond.; Gerald Cohen, piano
About
Pitchu Li , for SATB chorus and piano, is a setting of a portion of Psalm 118, a text that is sung in Hallel—the joyous set of Psalms sung as a central part of the services on most Jewish holidays. I was delighted to be writing another piece to be given its premiere by the wonderful young singers of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, an organization that has given a powerful and joyful experience of Jewish music to several thousand teens over the course of their high school years. The piece was commissioned for HaZamir through The Jeanne and Irwin Mandell Fund for New Music, and was given its premiere at David Geffen Hall in New York City in March 2019. It has since received many other performances by both HaZamir and the adult Zamir Chorale, and by the American Conference of Cantors.
Pitchu li shaarei tsedek, avo vam odeh Ya, Ze hasha-ar ladonai, tsadikim yavo-u vo. Od’cha ki anitani, vat’hi li lishua, Even ma-assu habonim, hai’ta l’rosh pina. Me’et Adonai haita zot, hi niflat b’eneinu, Ze hayom asa Adonai, nagila v’nism’cha vo.
Translation: Open for me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them to thank Adonai. This is the gateway to Adonai; through it the righteous shall enter. I will offer thanks to You, for You answered me, and You were my rescuer. The stone the builders rejected has become the keystone. This is Adonai’s doing; how wondrous it is in our sight. This is the day that Adonai has made; we shall celebrate and rejoice in it!
Performances
Premiere: March 2019: HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, NY June 2019: American Conference of Cantors convention, Atlanta, GA July 2019: HaZamir Choir, North American Jewish Choral Festival, Stamford, CT Dec. 2019 Zamir Chorale, Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY Dec. 2021 Zamir Chorale, Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY July 2022. Zamir Chorale, North American Jewish Choral Festival, Stamford, CT
Recorded December 11, 2022 at Sukkat Shalom in Wilmett, performed by Chicago a cappella
Recorded December 2025, performed by The Western Wind Vocal Ensemble
About
Featuring a serene melody that floats over harmonies set up by the other voices, the choir sings of the warmth of being together for the Chanukah holiday. The refrain focuses on the key word “light” and builds a gentle rocking figure in the chorus.
Chanukah Lights was written in 2005 for SSA choir, for the wonderful A Cappella Choir of the PEARLS Hawthorne Elementary School in Yonkers NY, conducted by Emme Kresek —composed when my daughter was a 5th-grade member of the choir. The Pearls choir, like so many school choruses, was looking for Chanukah repertoire that went beyond the most standard melodies usually sung for the holiday.
In 2022, I composed a new mixed chorus a cappella version for Chicago a cappella, who premiered the mixed version and then featured it on their album Miracle of Miracles — Music for Hanukkah.
The candles are gently glowing, spreading peace, spreading light. Our family gathers together, sharing joy this Chanukah night. Light, light, bring joy each night!
Yedid Nefesh (“Beloved of my soul”) is a setting of a poem attributed to Eleazar Azikri, a mystical Jewish poet and scholar of the 16th century. The poem has become popularly sung at various times in the Jewish liturgy, but especially at the beginning of Shabbat. Its language expresses the relation between the individual and the divine as one of longing and of delight, using the imagery of a lover as its prime metaphor. The poem has been set to many different melodies; this piece is based on a beautiful and delicate Sephardic melody, which I originally found in Yitzhak Levy’s Anthology of Judeo-Spanish Liturgy.
I had used the melody before in an instrumental piece from 2007 (Yedid Nefesh for clarinet, viola, and piano), and have long wanted to write a choral setting. I was honored to be asked to compose this piece for the 2019 North American Jewish Choral Festival. It was commissioned by the Zamir Choral Foundation, through the Jeanne and Irwin Mandell Fund for New Music, as part of my receiving—along with my wonderful colleagues Benjie-Ellen Schiller and Steve Cohen—the Festival’s Hallel V’Zimrah Award.
The melody is taken on a journey through several different choral and piano textures in the four verses; the key also changes each verse, adding to the feeling of color change as the piece progresses. There is a gradual building of dynamics and motion towards the end of the piece, leading to a peaceful ending —and a return to the a cappella texture of the opening)—with a solo soprano introduced to sing the final words of the poem: “Come quickly, my Love, the time has come. Show me Your grace as in earlier days.”
—Gerald Cohen
Commissioned by the Zamir Choral Foundation, through the Jeanne and Irwin Mandell Fund for New Music, as part of my receiving—along with my wonderful colleagues Benjie-Ellen Schiller and Steve Cohen—the Festival’s Hallel V’Zimrah Award.
Yedid nefesh, av harachaman, m’shoch avdach el r’tzonach. Yarutz avdach k’mo ayal, yishtachave el mul hadarach. Yeerav lo y’didutach, minofet tsuf v’chol taam.
Hadur na’e ziv haolam, nafshi cholat ahavatach. Ana El na r’fa na lah, b’harot lah no’am zivach, Az titchazek v’titrape, v’hayta lah shifchat olam.
Vatik yehemu rachamecha v’chus na al ben ohavach. Ki ze kamah nichsof nichsaf, lirot b’tiferet uzach. Ana Eli, machmad libi, chusha na v’al titalam.
Higale na ufros chaviv alai, et sukkat sh’lomach Ta’ir eretz mik’vodach, nagila v’nism’cha bach. Maher ahuv, ki va mo’ed, v’choneni kimei olam.
Translation adapted from Siddur Chaveirim Kol Yisraeil (K’tav, 2000)
Soul-mate, Merciful Parent, draw Your servant to do Your will. Your servant will run like a ram, will bow down before Your splendor. For Your love is tastier than nectar or any imaginable delight.
Pleasing in Splendor, Light of the World, my soul is love-sick for You. Please, God, heal her with the pleasure of Your light. Then she will be strengthened and healed and will be Your handmaiden forever.
Ancient One, let Your mercies be aroused. Pity Your beloved child, who has so longed to see the beauty of Your power. Pray, my God, my heart’s desire, hurry, please, and do not hide.
Reveal Yourself, Beloved, spread over me Your canopy of peace. Let the land be lit up with Your glory, let us rejoice and revel in You. Come quickly, my Love, the time has come. Show me Your grace as in earlier days..
Performances
Premiere: July 2019: North American Jewish Choral Festival, Stamford, CT
The poem Dayeinu is the central song of gratitude from the Passover Seder celebration, giving thanks for every stage of the ancient Hebrews’ journey from slavery to freedom. Cohen has created a joyous dance in his setting of the text, the music building in exuberance throughout the piece. The rhythmic challenges—such as shifts between 4/4 and 7/8 in the refrain—are readily worked out as they are so much fun to sing. Dayeinu! is an ideal choice for concerts celebrating spring and the spring holidays.
My setting of Dayeinu!, an exuberant dance, is from the Passover cantata V’higad’ta L’vincha (“And you shall tell your child”), composed in 1996 for the Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, founder and director.
Dayeinu! means “it would have been enough for us!” The poem thanks God for every part of the journey from slavery to freedom, each time saying, ”if you had done only this for us, it would have been enough—but look at how much we have to be grateful for!” Dayeinu! is from the larger Passover cantata V’higad’ta L’vincha (“And you shall tell your child”) One of the most significant themes of the Haggadah, emphasized in Cohen’s choices of text for the piece, is that we all must experience the story of the deliverance from slavery as if we ourselves had lived through it; we must then tell our children that story so as to pass it down, vividly, from one generation to the next.
V’higad’ta L’vincha was commissioned by the Chorus as part of the “Commissioning Music/USA” program of Meet The Composer and the National Endowment for the Arts, with support from the Helen F. Whitaker Fund. A recording of the original version for treble chorus with the Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, conductor, appears on the album Generations: Music of Gerald Cohen (New World Records NWCRI 879).
Note: Dayeinu, and the entire V’higad’ta L’vincha, are available in versions both for treble chorus and for SATB chorus. Either version can be performed either in a full score version with clarinet, cello and piano; or in the piano reduction.
Kama maalot tovot lamakom aleinu! Ilu hotsianu mimitsrayim, Dayeinu! Ilu kara lanu et hayam, Dayeinu! Ilu sipeik tsorkeinu bamidbar arbayim shana, Dayeinu! Ilu keirvanu lifnei har sinai, Dayeinu! Ilu natan lanu et hatorah, Dayeinu! Ilu hichnu l’erets yisraeil, Dayeinu!
How many acts of kindness God has performed for us! If God had brought us out of Egypt, Dayeinu! (it would have been enough for us!) If God had split the sea for us, Dayeinu! If God had sustained us in the wilderness for forty years, Dayeinu! If God had brought us before Mount Sinai, Dayeinu! If God had given us the Torah, Dayeinu! If God had led us to the land of Israel, Dayeinu!
Arrangements
Dayeinu, and the entire V’higad’ta L’vincha, are available in versions both for treble chorus and for SATB chorus. Either version can be performed either in a full score version with clarinet, cello and piano; or in the piano reduction.
Dayeinu is also the final movement of the instrumental piece Sea of Reeds, in its several arrangements.
Listen/Watch
SA Version
(From Sea of Reeds—clarinet duo and piano)
Performances
Selected:
Premiere: April 1997 – Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, cond.; Syracuse, NY May 1998 – Juilliard Pre-College Chorus, Rebecca Scott, cond.; New York, NY (SSA version) April 2006 – Princeton Pro Musica, Frances Slade, cond., Lawrenceville, NJ (SATB version) April 2010 – Choirs of Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College, Joyce Rosenzweig, cond. (SATB version) May 2010 – Concerto Della Donna, Iwan Edwards, cond.; Montreal, Québec (SSA version) April 2016 – HaZamir, the International Jewish High School Choir, Joel Caplan, cond., New York, NY (SATB version, “Dayeinu” movement) See video of this performance at Carnegie Hall
by Andrew Adler For Frank A. Heller III, every concert describes a small journey of inner space. Voces Novae, the chorus he trains and nurtures season after season, looks first to the spirit present within each of its singers, and by extension his audiences. It’s no exaggeration to call Heller’s perspective a pan-theistic, summoning faiths […]
by Eric Haines Hebrew liturgy provides blessings for every major event in the Jewish life cycle. Blessings for children, weddings, the Kaddish, the Kol Nidre and the Song of Solomon have inspired composers to write works that deserve a place on the concert stage. The Pittsburgh Jewish Music Festival ended its three-concert season on Tuesday […]
by Sheila Steinman Wallace In one of the most cohesive and moving concerts I have heard from this community chorus, Voces Novae presented “Choral Portraits: Gerald Cohen, Eleanor Daley and Eric Whitacre” on Sunday, March 7. … Gerald Cohen’s “Adonai Ro’i” (Psalm 23) has long been a personal favorite. The chorus and soloist Sarah Nettleton […]
This setting features a lyrical and peaceful melody, first heard in the solo voice, with words that expand upon a traditional Hebrew text, making it both more personal and more universal: where the original text asks for peace “for us and for all Israel,” the text here speaks of peace “within myself, for us and for all Israel, and all who dwell on earth, and all of the world/universe.”
Oseh Shalom was commissioned by Temple Sholom, Greenwich, CT for Cantor Asa Fradkin and Sasson: The Temple Sholom Teen Choir, in celebration of its centennial. I had never written a choral setting of this very familiar text, and delighted in having the opportunity for Cantor Fradkin, this dedicated teen choir, and this occasion. The premiere of the piece was at Temple Sholom in May, 2016.
As one of the best-known lines of Hebrew liturgy, “Oseh Shalom” is a prayer for peace. In my own private meditations, I had added several lines to the traditional prayer, in an effort to envision the sense of peace coming from within one’s being, to one’s family and people, and finally to all on earth, and the entire world/universe. The commission for the youth choir of Temple Sholom spurred me to set this revised text to music. The serene, but wide-ranging melody is first heard in Hebrew in the solo voice, then in the full choir, before the choir begins a contrasting section, with the prayer sung in English. Finally, the original melody returns, growing in strength, before bringing us to a peaceful conclusion.
Oseh shalom bimromav, Hu yaaseh shalom b’kirbi, Aleinu v’al kol Yisrael, V’al kol yoshvei tevel, V’al kol haolam, V’imru amen.
O You who makes peace in the heavens, Make peace within myself, For us and all Yisrael, And all who dwell on earth, And all our precious world, And all our wondrous world, And let us say amen.
Arrangements
—Arrangement for solo voice and piano (2020) —Arrangement for chorus with string quartet
To purchase score and parts, contact Gerald Cohen: gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com PDF version of score and parts: $3.00 a copy (minimum 6 copies)
Listen/Watch
Premiere at Temple Sholom, Greenwich, CT, May 2016 The Temple Sholom Teen Choir, Cantor Asa Fradkin, solo, Gerald Cohen, conductor
Performances
Premiere: May 2016: The Temple Sholom Teen Choir, Cantor Asa Fradkin, solo, Gerald Cohen, conductor; Greenwch, CT January 2017: Shir Chadash: The Brooklyn Jewish Community Chorus, Cantor Natasha Hirschhorn, solo, Rachel Brook, conductor; Brooklyn, NY May 2017: Gerald Cohen Vocal Ensemble, Cantor Asa Fradkin, solo; Scarsdale, NY January 2018: Colorado Hebrew Chorale, Cantor Asa Fradkin, solo, Carol Kozak Ward, conductor; Denver, CO January 2020: H.L. Miller Cantorial School Choir, Jewish Theological Seminary; Jacob Agar, Arielle Green, and Jacob Greenberg, soloists; Cantor Natasha Hirschhorn, conductor; New York, NY
L’dor Vador (“From generation to generation”) was commissioned by the Cantors Assembly for HaZamir: The International Jewish High School Choir, in honor of their founder and director, Matthew Lazar; the piece received its premiere in March 2015 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. After thinking about several different texts for the commissioned piece, the musical idea for L’dor Vador came to me as soon I as began composing: the perpetual motion in the piano, like time flowing by, with the choral melody poised, hovering, over the accompaniment. The text, from the Kedusha (holiness) section of the central daily Amidah prayer, is a natural choice for a choir that plays such a key role in transmitting our rich Jewish musical tradition “from generation to generation”. HaZamir is a treasure, one that we are so fortunate to have for our young people in their growth as musicians and Jews. I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to write this piece for them, especially with the support of the Cantors Assembly, another vitally important organization in preserving and advancing Jewish music.
L’dor vador nagid god’lecha, U’l’netsach n’tsachim k’dushat’cha nakdish. V’shivchacha, Eloheynu, mipinu lo yamush l’olam va-ed, Ki El Melech gadol v’kadosh Atah. Baruch Atah Adonai, haEl hakadosh.
From generation to generation we will declare your greatness, And for ever and ever we will make sacred your holiness. Your praise, our God, shall never depart from our lips, For you, God and sovereign, are great and holy. Praised are you, Adonai, the holy God.
– from the Siddur: Kedusha section of Amidah
Photos
Photos from the premiere of L’dor Vador, March 2015 at Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
Performances
Premiere: March 2015: HaZamir: The International Jewish High School Choir, Kelly Shepard, conductor, Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY June 2015: The Zamir Chorale, Matthew Lazar, conductor, New York, NY December 2015: The Zamir Chorale and Zamir Noded, Matthew Lazar, conductor, New York, NY May 2017: Gerald Cohen Vocal Ensemble, Scarsdale, NY
PDF version of score and parts: $3.00 a copy (minimum 6 copies, includes clarinet part). For printed version of score and parts, contact me.
About
Praise Life! Praise Wonder! is a setting of Rami Shapiro’s adaptation of Psalm 150, and was commissioned by Sharim v’Sharot, Dr. Elayne Robinson Grossman, Music Director, in honor of their 18th (Chai/Life) year as a chorus. I have known Elayne for 35 years, and am thrilled to write this celebratory piece for her and her chorus!
For the commissioned piece, we wanted to do a piece that celebrates life, and expresses gratitude and wonder. After thinking about many different possibilities, Elayne and I decided on doing a setting of Psalm 150—the last of the book of Psalms, a great outburst of joy and praise, and also a text that has been set many times. I had never set Psalm 150, so I was excited by that. But then there was the choice of Hebrew vs. English, and if English, which translation? We decided on a superb poem by Rami Shapiro, which is not exactly a translation, but more of a transformation of the psalm. I had set Rami’s poetry before in other choral works, and love his wonderful way of engaging with the text to create something new which is nevertheless deeply tied to the original.
The commission of this piece was funded by the following generous donors: —Amy Rappaport and Allan Freedman in celebration of their marriage, and in celebration of the Chai – 18th Anniversary of Sharim V’Sharot, Dr. Elayne Robinson Grossman, Music Director and Conductor —Ron and Joan Portman, L’dor vador: in honor of our family and their love of Jewish music —Max Yaffe and Joan Amatniek, in honor of synagogue Singers everywhere.
