OSVALDO N. GOLIJOV, PH.D. - Composer, Music Professor
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A 2003 MacArthur Award recipient, Osvaldo Golijov was born in 1960, and was raised in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina. Born to a piano teacher mother and physician father, Golijov was raised surrounded in chamber classical music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. He studied piano at the local conservatory and studied composition privately, subsequently moving in 1983 to Israel, where he studied at the Rubin Academy of Jerusalem and immersed himself in the colliding musical traditions of that city.

Upon moving to the United States in 1986, Mr. Golijov earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1990, as a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Golijov received Tanglewood’s Fromm Commission, resulting in “Yiddishbbuk”, which was premiered by the St. Lawrence String Quartet during Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music in July 1992. Working together with the SLSQ was a turning point in Golijov’s musical life, as they were the first group of players to dive into Golijov’s volatile and label-defying musical world and project it in its true, full form. In June 2002, EMI released “Yiddishbbuk”, a CD of Golijov’s chamber music, celebrating ten years of collaboration with the SLSQ; the CD was nominated for two Grammy Awards.

While at Tanglewood, Osvaldo Golijov became personally acquainted with the Kronos Quartet. This relationship, now a decade old, has become a central one to Golijov. In 1997, Kronos recorded Golijov’s Klezmer-accented “The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind”, and this CD has become what constitutes a bestseller in the classical world.

In 2000, the premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s “St. Mark Passion” took the music world by storm. It was commissioned by Helmuth Rilling for the European Music festival to commemorate the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach’s death. The Passion was given its U.S. premiere by the Boston Symphony Orchestra; and in the Fall of 2002, completed a North American tour which includes the premiere in New York and Los Angeles. The CD of the premiere of this work received a Grammy nomination in 2002.

` On commission from the Boston Symphony Orchestra for the Tanglewood Music Center, Mr. Golijov’s first opera, “Ainadamar” was premiered in August 2003. Upcoming projects include commissions from Carnegie Hall and the Kronos Quartet. In addition, he has begun work on a movie soundtrack, “Megalopolis” in collaboration with Francis Ford Coppola.

Mr. Golijov has received numerous commissions, including those on behalf of the city of Munich; the Spoleto USA Festival; New York’s Lincoln Center; the Schleswig Holstein Music and Oregon Bach festivals and the Boston Symphony. He is also the recipient of many awards, including a 2003 MacArthur Award and those given by New York’s Lincoln Center, Washington’s Kennedy Center, the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Golijov is currently an Associate Professor at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, where he has taught since 1991; is on the faculties of the Boston Conservatory and the Tanglewood Music Center; and has been Composer-in-Residence for Marlboro Music, Ravinia, and the Cape and Islands festivals.