La Pasion segun San Marcos

A remarkable musical creation in which the acclaimed Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov employs vocal soloists and orchestra, Afro-Cuban and capoeira dancers, and the famed choir Schola Cantorum de Venezuela to tell the story of the final ordeal and death of Christ according to the Gospel of St. Mark, with additional texts from the Kaddish, the Old Testament and Spanish poetry.

In an excerpt from Mark Swed’s LA Times review of the world premiere of La Pasión según San Marcos he said, “The score is infused with the spirit of Afro-Cuban music, bossa nova, the “new tango” style of Astor Piazzolla, rumba and flamenco… As soon as the concert ended (the audience) instantly leapt to its collective feet and let loose with cheers, deafening applause, foot stamping and ululating that didn’t stop for nearly 20 minutes… This is a marvelous new voice for expressing the joy and sorrow of a boisterous multicultural world, and it traverses ethnic walls as if they didn’t exist at all.”