Holy Cross Music Professor and World-Renowned Composer to Deliver Annual Lecture on Liberal Arts

Osvaldo Golijov, Loyola Professor of Music at Holy Cross, will present this year’s Richard Rodino Lecture on the Aims of the Liberal Arts on March 24 at 4 p.m. in Rehm Library at the College. The talk, titled "A Right Wrong Note," is free and open to the public. The talk will focus on creativity at Holy Cross.

One of the most prominent and frequently performed composers of our time, Golijov’s works — known for blending influences from many musical traditions to reflect the multicultural modern world — include the widely acclaimed retelling of the “St. Mark Passion,” the opera “Ainadamar,” song cycles (notably a set of folksongs titled “Ayre”), chamber music, and film scores. He is the recipient of two Grammy awards and a MacArthur Fellowship, and was named Musical America’s 2006 Composer of the Year.

In 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 night programs of music dear to him. In 2007, he was named first composer-in-residence at the Mostly Mozart Festival.

During the 2012-13 season, Golijov held the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall in New York. He has taught for several years at Tanglewood, has led workshops at Carnegie Hall with soprano Dawn Upshaw and teaches in the summers at the Sundance Composers Lab.

A member of the faculty at Holy Cross since 1991, Golijov has a strong commitment to both his students and the College’s mission. “Teaching at Holy Cross,” he has said, “has led me to discover Christianity in a completely different way than I experienced it as a Jewish minority growing up in Argentina. Living in constant dialogue with ‘the other’ became essential for my life and work.”

The annual Rodino Lecture series is devoted to the memory of Richard Rodino, formerly of the English department at Holy Cross.

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