Osvaldo Golijov, one of the most successful early 21st century composers of art music, is characterized by his eclectic approach, including mixing of a variety of disparate musical forms and traditions and his use of a particularly wide range of instruments.
Born and raised in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish family that emigrated from Romania, he studied music with his mother, a piano teacher, and at the local conservatory. He moved to Israel in 1983 and studied in Jerusalem, and in 1986 he moved to the United States, where he received a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania as a student of the American composer George Crumb.
One of Golijov's most highly acclaimed works is his 2000 La Pasión según San Marcos (St. Mark Passion), which he composed for the Passion 2000 project in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach. Among its features is the combining several Latin and African musical styles and the reimaging of Bach’s Passion on the streets of Brazil and Cuba. The work premiered in Stuttgart in 2000, where it received a 25-minute standing ovation.
Commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Ayre is a 40-minute cycle of eleven songs based mainly on fifteenth century Spanish folk songs. From 2000, Golijov began composing soundtracks for documentaries and other films as well as chamber music, including his 2002 Tenebrae, a minimalist string quartet.