Mona Lyn Reese has been composing professionally for more than 35 years, including a stint as composer-in-residence at the Minnesota Opera from 1991-1999. Her most recent album is a dramatic oratorio titled Choose Life, Uvacharta Bachayim, an interfaith commemoration of the Holocaust, which Reese composed with librettist Delores Dufner, OSB. The ambitious work was recorded last year with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra and Chorus. All of the principal artistic team members are women. The oratorio includes readings from the novel Night, by Elie Wiesel. The painting, “Choose Life,” (below), by Marie Olofsdotter, adorns the CD cover. For information about Choose Life, go to: chooselife-music.com. — M.S.
