Tue Feb 18th, 2025

Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov to close Rome's summer opera festival

Baths of Caracalla Photo: Ethan Doyle White Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

The Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov will be in charge of closing the Rome Summer Opera Festival 2025 with his acclaimed work 'The Passion According to Saint Mark', which will be presented on August 7 at the Teatro dell'Armee Romana di Caracalla.

The work by Golijov (La Plata, 1960) will act as a "synthesis" of the key themes of the Rome summer opera festival, such as the sacred and the profane and tradition and innovation, the organizers said on Wednesday.

The Argentine composer, whose mother is Romanian and whose father is Ukrainian, lived in Israel and America, where he was “influenced by diverse musical traditions” that allowed him to create works that combine styles from both continents.

'The Passion According to St. Mark', which received a 2000-minute standing ovation at its premiere in Stuttgart (Germany) in 25, is a work that “breaks down barriers and overcomes any possible label”, as well as offering “an artistic and spiritual experience without limits or borders”.

The work, one of the most notable compositions of his career, was commissioned to commemorate Bach's death and the Argentine composer only accepted it after a two-year process of reflection, during which he studied the New Testament, since he is Jewish.

On this occasion, the person in charge of interpreting it will be the Venezuelan Diego Matheuz, who already participated in the 2022 edition of the festival to interpret 'Mass' by Bernstein, accompanied by South American musicians and musicians from diverse cultures.

His performance is part of the Rome Opera Summer Festival, which this year will mix sacred and secular music, in the midst of the Catholic Jubilee, and will not only be held in the Baths of Caracalla but, for the first time, will have as its stage the imposing Basilica of Maxentius, in the heart of the Imperial Forums.

“When preparing the artistic proposal for the festival, I wanted to take into account the context that the city of Rome is experiencing in the Holy Year, dialoguing with this special event,” explained its director, Damiano Michieletto, at the presentation of the program. EFE

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