Trivia

2003 MacArthur Fellow with a $500,000 "no strings attached" funds over the next five years.

Associate Professor 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.

Ph.d in Music Composition from University of Pennsylvania where he studied with George Crumb.

Studied with Mark Kopytman at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy.

In 2000, commissioned by German Helmuth Rilling for $10,000 to write a Passion based on St. Mark to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in 2000.

Born in Argentina, Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household.

Garnered a major commission from Soli Deo Gloria, the Wheaton, Illinois, based foundation dedicated to spreading "the message of God's greatness and goodness through the most powerful music of our time."

Golijov says he was glad to be assigned the St. Mark Passion. St. John was out of the question because of its treatment of Jews, and St. Matthew raised the specter of Bach a little too concretely for Golijov's comfort.

Golijov is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. (2008)