Azul 8.7.09
OSVALDO GOLIJOV
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 1990's Golijov began to work closely with the St. Lawrence
and Kronos string quartets. 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 Mark-Anthony
Turnage, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the next two seasons.
In 2008 he worked 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.
"There
are two sides of Osvaldo Golijov that attracted me: consummate
musicianship and classical training, and as well a sense of modern
life, clashing cultures and the integration of past and present into a
generous musical canvas. As it turned out there was a third side—a
kind and interesting human being and a wonderful friend." (Francis Ford Coppola)
"The
high energy in Bartok and Stravinsky's music was this ethnic energy, a
Jewish energy, a Gypsy energy, and it was precisely the energy that was
literally exterminated in the death camps of Europe. It is what has
been missing from most European music for a while. It's that huge,
unbearable melody of lament which is devastating and life-affirming at
the same time. Which is, of course, a huge tradition of Jewish music,
and which has been missing in action. Osvaldo has brought it back from
Eastern Europe, through Israel, through Argentina. It is transformed
but still wailing." (Peter Sellars)
Photo: Sébastien Chambert
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