1. What was your creative process in composing this piece to honor the birth of Benjamin Isaac Lev Pinzur? Were there specific themes or emotions you wanted to capture?

It was a great honor to be asked to write this piece for the Mendelssohn Chorus in honor of Benjamin, and I want to thank Mark Pinzur for entrusting me with this task by commissioning this work.

As its title suggests, this piece is a celebration of miracles: the miracle of Hanukkah, the miracle of life, and the miracles we all experience every day. The cornerstone text in the piece is the Hebrew phrase Neis gadol hayah sham, whose initials appear on the four sides of the Hanukkah dreidel. The text translates to "A great miracle happened there," a reference to the rededication of the holy temple which is commemorated during the festival of Hanukkah.

In Judaism, the birth of a child is considered a simcha (a joyous occasion) not just for a family, but for the entire community. Similarly, Hanukkah is celebrated both by individual families lighting candles and saying the blessings in their homes, and by the Jewish community as a whole as a great miracle in the history of our people. I wanted this piece to capture both the private celebrations and the communal joy surrounding great miracles such as these. Therefore, I structured this work to alternate between quiet, more intimate moments - with contemplative solos, gentle music for the brass, or unaccompanied chorus - and grand choral tuttis with the full complement of majestic organ and brass.