Born in 1960, Osvaldo Golijov was raised in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, Argentina, a provincial capital of half a million people about fifty kilometers from Buenos Aires. Born to a piano teacher mother and physician father, Golijov was raised immersed 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 with Gerardo Gandini, subsequently moving in 1983 to Israel, where he studied with Mark Kopytman at the Rubin Academy of Jerusalem and immersed himself in the colliding musical traditions of that city.
Upon moving in the United States in 1986, Golijov earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with George Crumb. 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 St. Lawrence String Quartet was a turning point in Golijov's musical life, as the SLSQ was 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 10 years of collaboration with the SLSQ, featuring Todd Palmer, Mark Dresser, Tara O'Connor, and the Ying Quartet.
While at Tanglewood, Golijov became personally acquainted with the Kronos Quartet. This relationship, now a decade old, has become a central one to Golijov. One of his works, "K'vakarat," was recorded later for Kronos and cantor Misha Alexandrovich. In 1997, Kronos and clarinetist David
Krakauer recorded Golijov's Klezmer-accented "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind." Although "Dreams and Prayers" was commissioned by the Cleveland Quartet, who premiered and toured it with clarinetist Giora Feidman, that ensemble disbanded before they had a chance to record it. The Kronos CD of "Dreams and Prayers" became what constitutes a bestseller in the classical world. Golijov has collaborated on about 30 works with the Kronos Quartet, including a series of arrangements of music from all over the world. Eighth of them appear in the CD "Caravan" and seven arrangements and one composition appear in "Nuevo," both on the Nonesuch label. The collaborations with the Kronos Quartet also allowed Golijov to work with artists such as the gypsy band Taraf de Haidouks, who participated in the recording of Golijov's soundtrack for Sally Potter's film "The Man Who Cried" (starring Johnny Depp and Cate Blanchett), as well as the Mexican Rock Band Cafe Tacuba, tablas virtuoso Zakir Husssain, and legendary Argentine musician and producer Gustavo Santaolalla.
In 2000, the premiere of 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 piece featured the Schola Cantorum of Caracas, with the Orquesta La Pasion (especially assembled for this work by Golijov), together with percussionist Mikael Ringquist, all conducted by Maria Guinand. The Passion integrated the multiple manifestations of the Christian faith in Latin America (and Golijov's own Jewish roots) in a musical universe, which critics and audiences in Europe and America alike praised for encompassing popular and classical idioms, acknowledging the past, and opening the door to a fruitful and communicative musical future. The CD of the premiere of this work, on the Hanssler Classic label, received a Grammy nomination in 2002.
Golijov has received numerous commissions, including those from the composer Hans Werner Henze 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. In addition, Golijov has been composer-in-residence at Merkin Hall in New York, the Spoleto USA Festival (1998 and 2002) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Music Alive series (2001-02). He is currently an Associate Professor at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he has taught since 1991; is on the faculties of the Boston Conservatory and the Tanglewood Music Center; and this summer is Composer-in-Residence for Marlboro Music, Ravinia, and the Cape and Islands festivals.
Golijov is also the recipient of many awards, including a those given by the MacArthur Foundation, New York's Lincoln Center, Washington's Kennedy Center, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. His compositions have been performed by ensembles such as the Boston Symphony, LA Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, New World Symphony, London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group; conductors Robert Spano, Seiji Ozawa, Esa Pekka Salonen, Oliver Knussen, Miguel Harth Bedoya, and Maria Guinand; singers Dawn Upshaw, Luciana Souza and Courtenay Budd; and instrumentalists such as Todd Palmer and Gil Kalish.
Recent projects include works for the Kronos Quartet and a chamber opera that was premiered at Tanglewood in the summer of 2003. His works are published by Ytalianna Music Publishing and recorded on Nonesuch, Sony Classical, Hanssler Classics, and EMI.
