Susan Merdinger performs CHAI VARIATIONS on Eliahu HaNavi on her program Four Centuries at the Sheridan Music Studios-Chicago. Her theme for this program is 'variations,' with music by Handel, Beethoven, Schumann, Shatin, Gianopoulis and Zelenaia. The Hebrew word 'Chai' means 'living' in Hebrew, and symbolically stands for the number 18 in Cabalistic mysticism. The performer chooses the order of the variations, with only the opening and closing themes set. Since there are 18! potential ordering, there is a lot to choose from! The goal of having the performer choose the order is to reach a deeper level of collaboration between performer and composer.