Creation world premiere: Nov 12 at BSO
Osvaldo Goljov's Creation, a co-commission of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Edinburgh International Festival, will receive its world premiere on November 12 at Symphony Hall in Boston, with additional performances November 13 and 14. The evening-length work, with book by David Henry Hwang and lyrics by Leah Hager Cohen, is written for orchestra, adult choir, children’s choir, and four soloists: percussion master Cyro Baptista, kamancheh master Kayhan Kalhor, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines. Creation features artwork by Alex Sopp—commissioned by the Prior Performing Arts Center, where Golijov serves as the Composer-in-Residence—in projections designed by Camilla Tassi.
In describing the work, which is composed of questions and stories about the Creation of the Universe, Golijov writes:
There’s no Big Bang or “In the Beginning” here. In fact, there’s no beginning, only a constant swirl of atoms that gives birth and brings death to everything except for the dancing atoms themselves. Every being, including each of us, is a temporary constellation of atoms - a doctrine philosophers and scientists call “atomism”. Here is a story told in turns by the oldest tree in the world, by the first ever born to a woman, by Vincent Van Gogh, by a chorus of little ones eternally asking Why?, by magnificent creatures both real and imaginary, and by Life Force itself. It is a hymn to life composed of life, composed of celebration and lamentation, of wonder and rue and love, and all of it in motion.
Additional details and tickets can be found at bso.org.
Artwork: Alex Sopp, animation: Camilla Tassi
Laika world premiere recording
Laika, Osvaldo Golijov's 2024 work for voice and chamber ensemble with text by Leah Hager Cohen, has received its world premiere recording on Anthony Roth Costanzo's "Countertenor", released October 23. Laika, written for and premiered by Costanzo, is the opening track on the album, which presents a centuries-wide range of repertoire, from Vivaldi and Monteverdi, to Philip Glass and Frankie Valli (and quite a bit in between). Costanzo calls the album and accompanying book of the same name both "a history and a personal history". Learn more, listen and purchase at nonesuch.com.
In conjunction with the album's launch, Costanzo and Nonesuch Records have released an official video for Laika, featuring the full recording along with illustrations by Ben Wiseman and animation by Robert Edridge-Waks.
Azul at Tanglewood and the New York Philharmonic
Azul, Osvaldo Golijov’s cello concerto, recently received two major performances.
At Tanglewood, on August 9, cellist Christine Lee’s performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sammy Rachid, marked the 20th anniversary of the work’s premiere. Azul, a BSO 125th Anniversary Commission, was first performed at Tanglewood by Yo-Yo Ma and the BSO in August 2006.
On October 2, Yo-Yo Ma was the soloist with Gustavo Dudamel and the New York Philharmonic. The concert was one of a series of special non-subscription concerts marking the opening weeks of Maestro Dudamel's tenure in New York as music and artistic director.
Osvaldo Golijov congratulates soloist Christine Lee after her performance of Azul at Tanglewood on August 9, 2026. Credit: Hilary Scott
Accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman, conductor Gustavo Dudamel, percussionist Jamey Haddad, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and percussionist Cyro Baptista in discussion at the rehearsal for Azul at the New York Philharmonic, October 2, 2026. Credit: Osvaldo Golijov
Osvaldo Golijov embraces Yo-Yo Ma after his performance of Azul with the New York Philharmonic on October 2, 2026.
Cuadros del Sur: “unmissable” world premiere recording
Pianist Daniil Trifonov’s latest album, Mi Historia Americana – Sur, released on October 2 by Deutsche Grammophon, features the world premiere recording of Cuadros del Sur. In the work, inspired by Pictures at an Exhibition, Gonzalo Grau sets selections from Osvaldo Golijov’s La Pasión según San Marcos (for orchestra, choir and soloists), here setting it for piano and orchestra. Trifanov is joined by Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (OSESP) in what marks the first appearance on a DG recording by any Brazilian orchestra.
The recording is featured in Gramophone magazine's “Five Unmissable New Classical Recordings”.
Podcast discussion explores Ever Yours recording
Osvaldo Golijov joined Stephen Prutsman, Barry Shiffman and host Sarah Cahill on Phenotypic Recordings's Musical Minds & Missions podcast, to discuss the album Ever Yours, released on the label earlier this year. The album takes its title from the work of the same name—presented here by the Arethusa and Animato Quartets with Nicholas Schwartz, bass—that is dedicated to Geoff Nutall, the late, founding first violinist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and is inspired by letters between Vincent van Gogh and his brother, Theo. On the podcast, the three guests—all friends and musical colleagues of Nutall—remember their friendship, music making, and the origins of Golijov's close relationship with Nutall and the SLSQ. "Geoff Nuttall was and is my brother in life and in music," states Golijov.
The podcast features excerpts from the title work, as well as other pieces on the recording: Esperanza, the love theme from Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis; and two works featuring Shiffman on viola with the Arethusa Quartet. Golijov discusses his love of the sonority of a string quartet joined by a second viola, in Tintype as a viola quintet, and in K'vakarat as a quartet with solo viola. The latter work, originally written for cantorial voice and later for clarinet, is presented here in Shiffman's arrangement for viola. Says Golijov, "I love this record," and, noting the roles of friendship, love and trust in music making, "the personal is much more important in all the good things—especially chamber music—than what we think it is."
Pondering musical legacies, Golijov says: "We take life; we put in on paper, so to speak, or into patterns of rhythms and pitches and expressions, and... we will all be gone but something of us will continue through a score or a recording or a memory."
Musical Minds & Missions podcast, episode 12 is availabe on YouTube. Ever Yours can be purchased or streamed at bandcamp.com.
