Osvaldo Golijov (born December 5, 1960)

Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina. Born to a piano teacher mother and physician father, Golijov was raised surrounded by chamber classical music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. After studying piano at the local conservatory and composition with Gerardo Gandini he moved to Israel in 1983, where he studied with Mark Kopytman at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy and immersed himself in the colliding musical traditions of that city. Upon moving to the United States in 1986, Golijov earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with George Crumb, and was a fellow at Tanglewood, studying with Oliver Knussen.

In the early 90's Golijov began to work closely with two string quartets, the St Lawrence and the Kronos. Both ensembles were the earliest to project Golijov's volatile and category-defying style in its true, full form, and continue to perform his music regularly. In 2002, EMI released Yiddishbbuk, a Grammy-nominated CD of Golijov's chamber music, celebrating ten years of collaboration with the St Lawrence String Quartet, featuring clarinetist Todd Palmer. The Kronos Quartet released three recordings featuring their collaborations with Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, featuring David Krakauer, as well as Caravan, and Nuevo. Kronos also expanded Golijov's musical family through collaborations with artists such as the Romanian Gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks, the Mexican Rock group Café Tacuba, tablas virtuoso Zakir Hussain, and legendary Argentine composer, guitarist and producer Gustavo Santaolalla, with whom Golijov continues to collaborate in a variety of projects. For the past seven years Golijov has been inspired by the voice of Dawn Upshaw, for whom he composed several works, including the Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra, the opera Ainadamar, the cycle Ayre, and a number of arrangements of popular songs.

In 2000, the premiere of Golijov's St. Mark Passion took the music world by storm. Commissioned by Helmuth Rilling for the European Music Festival, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach's death, the piece featured the Schola Cantorum of Caracas, with the Orquesta La Pasión (especially assembled for this work by Golijov together with percussionist Mikael Ringquist), all conducted by Maria Guinand. The CD of the premiere of this work, on the Haenssler Classic label, received Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations in 2002. For the premiere of Ayre, Golijov founded another virtuoso ensemble: The Andalucian Dogs. Together with Dawn Upshaw, they premiered the piece at Zankel Hall and recorded it on a Grammy-nominated CD for Deutsche Grammophon in 2005. In 2006 Deutsche Grammophon released the recording of Ainadamar, with Dawn Upshaw, Kelley O'Connor and Jessica Rivera singing the principal roles, and the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, conducted by Robert Spano, an artist and friend who has worked closely with Golijov for almost a decade and conducted the world premiere of the opera, as well as the American premiere of the Passion. The record earned two Grammy awards: for best opera recording, and best contemporary composition.

Golijov has received numerous commissions from major ensembles and institutions in the U.S. and Europe. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and several other awards. In addition to the artists mentioned above, he collaborates closely with conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya; vocalists Luciana Souza, Alexandra Montano and Biella da Costa, cellists Yo-Yo Ma, Maya Beiser, Alisa Weilerstein and Matt Haimovitz, the Kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor, and percussionist Jamey Haddad; also with young, multitalented musicians such as Michael Ward-Bergeman, Gonzalo Grau, Ljova, and Jeremy Flower; ensembles including the Atlanta Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, and eighth blackbird; artist Gronk, playwright David H. Hwang, and director Peter Sellars, who staged sold out and critically acclaimed runs of Ainadamar at the Santa Fe Opera and Lincoln Center.

Golijov has been composer-in-residence at the Spoleto USA Festival, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Music Alive series, Marlboro Music, Ravinia, Ojai, and several other festivals. He has recently been named composer-in-residence for the 2007 Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and is co-composer-in-residence, together with Marc-Anthony Turnage, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the next two seasons. This season he is working with the Silk Road Project and with Dawn Upshaw at Carnegie Hall in two workshops. Golijov is Loyola Professor of Music at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where he has taught since 1991, and is also on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory.

In January and February 2006 Lincoln Center presented a sold out Festival called "The Passion of Osvaldo Golijov", featuring multiple performances of his major works, his chamber music, and late nights of Tango and Klezmer. London's Barbican Centre also presented two evenings of his music in early 2006, and the Atlanta Symphony is featured his works throughout the season.

Recently completed projects include Azul, a cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony, and the composition of the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's upcoming film Youth Without Youth. He is currently at work on Rose of the Winds, commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and to be premiered by them with the Silk Road Ensemble and Miguel Harth-Bedoya conducting. Future works include a new opera, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera.

His works are published by Ytalianna Music Publishing. In addition to Ainadamar and Ayre, Deutsche Grammophon will release three other recordings of Golijov's works over the next two years. Other works have been released on Nonesuch, Sony Classical, Hanssler Classics, Naxos, Koch, and EMI.

Version: July 17, 2007 from www.osvaldogolijov.com