My name is Daniel Zwickel ben Avram, and I am a composer living in the San Francisco Bay area.  (Here I am, singing “¡Viva!” at the end of the Chavista  anthem, “De Colores”, at a farmworkers’ voter registration rally in Pittsburg, California.) I have created a sacred work, a peace mass, if you will, based on the structure of the Roman liturgy, but which embraces all faith traditions.  You will hear jazz quartets with vocals and without, along with a great deal of jazz inflected classical a capella pieces. Here is what Dr. Sal Ferrantelli, professor of Vocal Studies at Monterey Peninsula College and Director of I Cantori de Carmel, wrote about one of the pieces from “Metanoia”. “The compositional style of [Daniel’s] Ave Maria is rooted in contemporary vocal jazz harmonic practice, but its melody, lovely in its tender simplicity, and its complex but smoothly flowing harmonic progressions do artistic justice to the venerable prayer to Mary, the mother of Jesus.” My friend, Sal’s kind words may mislead somewhat.  Far from a devoted Catholic, I am a Jew and a Unitarian Universalist – who had been a cantor in a Catholic Church for sixteen years.  I am, however, a devoted ecumenist who believes in the healing power of music.  In a world seemingly filled with hatred and fear, there seems to be little that one person can do except, perhaps to cling to the words of the Mahatma Gandhi:  “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” The small, (basically) insignificant thing that I do is music, so here I am. “Metanoia – a Universalist Mass” is a gift that the muses have bestowed upon me.  I offer it to you in all humility. Peace,