Atlanta Symphony Orchestra embarks on two-year performance and recording project with composer Osvaldo Golijov
Project Includes Two Recordings with Deutsche Grammophon

ATLANTA - December 5, 2004 - With the performance of two works by Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov the beginning of November 2004, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) began a two-year concert performance project with the composer that will include two recordings with Deutsche Grammophon (DG).

   “The arc of this project brings a larger scale to our work with living composers,” said ASO Music Director Robert Spano. “I’m very excited that we have this chance to not only perform Osvaldo’s work, but also to record it.” 

   The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and ASO Music Director Robert Spano performed and recorded in early November two works by Golijov; Oceana, a cantata on a poem by Pablo Neruda, featuring Brazilian singer Luciana Souza and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Last Round, an homage to Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla. 

   In November 2005 Ainadamar, an opera in one act depicting the last days of Spanish poet/playwright Federico Garcia Lorca will be performed and then recorded by the ASO and Mr. Spano. The performances will be semi-staged with scenic elements designed by Santiago Calatrava, architect of the new Atlanta Symphony Center. Robert Spano conducted the world premiere of Ainadamar at Tanglewood in 2003, which featured soprano Dawn Upshaw, who will sing in the Atlanta performances, as well.

   That same month, Golijov’s Three Songs will be recorded with Ms. Upshaw and the ASO, reprising their February 2004 performances in Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal Constitution described the works as “tender, indelible songs of high personality and subtle argument.”

   The DG recordings, which are scheduled tentatively for release in 2006, are the result of Mr. Golijov’s specific desire to record his orchestral works with Mr. Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. The ASO will simultaneously continue its long-term association with Telarc and has plans for more recordings with Telarc in the future.

   The ASO’s collaboration with Osvaldo Golijov will also include performances of La Pasion segun San Marcos sung in Latin, Spanish and Aramaic in February 2006. Mr. Spano conducted the U.S. premiere of this dramatic retelling of the passion story based on the Gospel of Mark in Boston in 2001 and the New York premiere in 2002. The Boston Globe called it “the first indisputably great composition of the 21st century,” and The New York Times praised the work’s “combination of authenticity and modesty,” which “dares to follow in the tradition of the Bach passions.” 

   Osvaldo Golijov, one of today’s most important composers, was born in Argentina, the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, and is known for drawing on an eclectic assortment of international and cultural sources, including the European and American classical traditions, the Latin American music that is his birthright, and his Jewish heritage. As the Boston Herald remarked, “Golijov’s music IS world music

   Over the years, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has recorded more than 100 albums for its recording partner Telarc, winning 21 Grammy Awards. This season the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will continue that association with two new recordings, both featuring the acclaimed Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus: Mozart’s Requiem conducted by ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles and a CD of contemporary choral music conducted by Robert Spano featuring the world premiere performance and recordings of ASO commissioned works by Christopher Theofanidis and David Del Tredici.

   The ASO remains one of the few North American orchestras with an active recording agreement, averaging two to three recordings each year.