Collection of solo vocal works
Including: Hariu Ladonai (Psalm 100), Y’varech’cha, Ad Matai (Psalm 82), Libavtini Achoti Chala, V’haarev Na, Dayeinu
New Music for a New Mahzor, for vocal solo a cappella and with piano (2010) | 20’
Commissioned by the Cantors Assembly
L’dor Vador (From generation to generation), for SATB chorus and piano (2014) | 3’
About – Score – Text – Photos – Performances
$3.50
About
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.
Score
Text and Translation
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
Praise Life! Praise Wonder!, for SATB chorus, clarinet, and piano (2018) | 3’
About – Score – Text – Listen/Watch – Performances
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.
Score

Text
Rami M. Shapiro, Psalm 150
From “Accidental Grace: Poetry, Prayers, and Psalms”
Praise Life!
Praise Wonder!
look and see
listen and hear
taste and touch and smell
the awesome simplicity of This.
Praise Life!
in sacred places.
Praise Life!
through just acts and compassionate deeds
Praise Life!
With upbeat horn, lilting harp, entrancing lyre.
Praise Life!
With drum and dance
violin and flute
clashing cymbals.
Let all that breathe
breathe praises!
Breathe in psalms
breathe out hymns.
Breathe and sing
and let joy resound
within you
and without you.
Listen/Watch

Performances
Premiere: June 2018: Sharim v’Sharot, Elayne Robinson Grossman, cond., Ewing Township, NJ.
Lo Lanu (Psalm 115), for SATB chorus and piano (1987) | 8’
The web page for this composition is in progress. Please contact me at gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com for more information about the piece.
Commissioned by the Canticum Novum Singers
Published by Transcontinental Music Publications
Hinei Ma Tov/Shaalu Sh’lom Y’rushalayim, for solo voice and SATB chorus a cappella (1996) | 3’
The web page for this composition is in progress. Please contact me at gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com for more information about the piece.
Commissioned by Temple Shaaray Tefila, New York
The Louisville Courier-Journal
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 […]
Sheila Steinman Wallace
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 […]
Sim Shalom, for SATB Chorus and piano (2001) | 5’
About – Score – Arrangements – Text – Performances
About
Sim Shalom was commissioned by the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, located on Long Island, NY. This summer program has been an inspiring place for young musicians and other artists since 1968. Sim Shalom was given its premiere in August 2001 by the Usdan Festival Chorus, Elliot Bean, conductor.
The text Sim Shalom (Grant Peace) is recited every morning as the final section of the Amidah, the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy. Sim Shalom is felt as the culmination of the entire Amidah, which thus concludes with a prayer for peace and a sense of gratitude for our many blessings in life.
—Gerald Cohen
Score
Listen/Watch
Text
Sim shalom tova uvracha,
chein vachesed v’rachamim,
aleinu v’al kol Yisrael amecha,
al kol Yisrael amecha.
[v’al kol yoshvei olamecha]
Barcheinu avinu kulanu k’echad
b’or panecha,
Ki v’or panecha natata lanu Adonai Eloheinu,
torat chayim v’ahavat chesed,
uts’daka uv’racha, v’rachamim v’chayim v’shalom.
V’tov b’einecha l’vareich et am’cha Yisrael,
b’chol eit uv’chol shaa bishlomecha.
Sim shalom tova uvracha,
chein vachesed v’rachamim,
sim shalom.
Grant peace, goodness and blessing,
grace and mercy and compassion,
for us and for all Israel, your people.
[and for all the inhabitants of Your world.]
Bless us, our Creator, one and all,
with the light of Your presence.
For by that light You have given us, Adonai our God,
life-giving Torah, and merciful love,
righteousness, blessing, compassion, and life and peace.
And let it be good in your eyes to bless Your people Israel,
in every season and at every hour with Your peace.
Grant peace, goodness and blessing,
grace and mercy and compassion,
grant peace.
Performances
L’chu N’ran’na (Psalm 95), for SATB chorus and organ (2003) | 4’
The web page for this composition is in progress. Please contact me at gerald@nullgeraldcohenmusic.com for more information about the piece.
Commissioned for American Composers Forum’s Faith Partners residency
Adon Olam (Eternal Lord), for SATB chorus and organ (2003) | 5’
About – Score – Performances
About
Adon Olam is a setting of one of the best known Jewish liturgical poems— attributed to Solomon Ibn Gabriol—expressing God as present both in the infinity of space and time, and the nearness of our own being. When used in synagogue, the text is often sung at the very end of services, often to lively tunes that do not particularly reflect the meaning of the text. In this piece, I hoped to write a choral setting that was indeed a close reflection of the beauty and the content of the poem.
I was pleased to write this piece commissioned, for SATB chorus and organ, as part of the Faith Partners fellowship of the American Composers Forum, for the Church of St. Ignatius-Loyola, New York, NY, Kent Tritle, Music Director, who premiered it in September 2003. I wrote a new arrangement for chorus and piano, which was given its premiere in September 2024 by the New York Virtuoso Singers, Harold Rosenbaum, conductor.
Score
Performances
September 14, 2003, Church of St. Ignatius-Loyola, New York, NY
Lakol z’man (To everything a season), for SATB chorus and piano (2004) | 5’
About – Score – Listen/Watch – Text – Performances
About
Lakol z’man/For everything a season was commissioned by the Cantabile Chamber Chorale, Rebecca Scott, conductor. The piece is written in memory of Ronald Axelrad—a beloved member of the chorus, and a great lover of life and of music of many sorts.
The text for this piece is the famous section from the book of Ecclesiastes (known in Hebrew as Kohelet). I have chosen to set the refrain in both Hebrew and English; the melody of the refrain is based upon the traditional cantillation of the text as it is chanted with the Hebrew text, as recited in services on the holiday of Sukkot. The opposing pairs of “a time to…” that make up the rest of the text are set in English, each verse leading to a fuller and more impassioned return of the refrain. The coda of the piece gives the melody of the refrain quietly to the piano, with the chorus singing words of the verses in a gentle recitation.
Gerald Cohen
August 2004
Commissioned by Cantabile Chamber Chorus
Score

Listen/Watch
Text
Lakol z’man, v’et l’kol chefets tachat hashamayim,
For everything a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens.
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to break down and a time to build up —
Lakol z’man, v’et l’kol chefets tachat hashamayim,
For everything a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens.
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Lakol z’man, v’et l’kol chefets tachat hashamayim,
For everything a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens.
Performances
Premiere: Cantabile Chamber Chorus, Rebecca Scott, cond., December 2004, New Brunswick, NJ