18 Facts About Osvaldo Golijov

Osvaldo Noe Golijov is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, known for his vocal and orchestral work.

Osvaldo Golijov was born in and grew up in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish family that immigrated to Argentina from Romania.

Osvaldo Golijov's mother was a piano teacher, and his father was a physician.

Osvaldo Golijov studied piano in La Plata and studied composition with Gerardo Gandini.

In 1983, Golijov immigrated to Israel, where he studied with Mark Kopytman at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem.

In 1991, Osvaldo Golijov joined the faculty of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was named Loyola Professor of Music in 2007.

Osvaldo Golijov has three children with his first wife, Silvia.

Osvaldo Golijov was married to architect and designer Neri Oxman.

Osvaldo Golijov grew up listening to chamber music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the nuevo tango of Astor Piazzolla.

Osvaldo Golijov composed La Pasion segun San Marcos for the Passion 2000 project in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Osvaldo Golijov had a long working relationship with soprano Dawn Upshaw, who he called his muse.

Osvaldo Golijov premiered some of his works, often written specifically for her.

Osvaldo Golijov composed and arranged chamber music, including for the Kronos Quartet and the St Lawrence String Quartet.

Osvaldo Golijov came under scrutiny in 2011 for a series of commissions that were either delayed or cancelled.

Tom Manoff, a composer and critic, and Brian McWhorter, a trumpeter, alleged that Osvaldo Golijov's Sidereus was largely copied from Michael Ward-Bergeman's composition Barbeich.

Osvaldo Golijov had used that same musical material in his 2009 composition Radio.

Osvaldo Golijov responded to these questions by explaining that he composed the original musical material jointly with Ward-Bergeman for a film score which in the end did not include the material, and that he used it by agreement with Ward-Bergeman, who did not comment publicly on the matter.

Osvaldo Golijov cited Monteverdi, Schubert and Mahler as other composers who used existing musical material to create new music.