World Premiere of Cuadros del Sur with Daniil Trifonov and OSESP
Cuadros del Sur, a new orchestral suite drawn from La Pasión según San Marcos by Osvaldo Golijov, receives its world premiere with Daniil Trifonov and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo.
Cuadros del Sur, a new suite for piano and orchestra arranged by Gonzalo Grau based on La Pasión según San Marcos by Osvaldo Golijov, receives its world premiere February 13–14 with Daniil Trifonov and the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo at Sala São Paulo.
>Feb 13-14: Cuadros del Sur (world premiere)
Cuadros del Sur was co-commissioned by Deutsche Grammophon, the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Orchestre de Radio France, and the Aspen Music Festival. Trifonov serves as the project’s music director and alternates onstage between piano and conducting duties. The performances take place within a program titled American History: South, which focuses on musical traditions of the southern region of the American continent and centers on Cuadros del Sur, derived from Golijov’s passion setting.
Premiered in 2000, La Pasión según San Marcos is among Golijov’s most widely performed works and is regarded as a landmark contribution to the contemporary choral-orchestral repertoire. Written for soloists, chorus, dancers, and orchestra, the work reimagines the Passion narrative through a fusion of Latin American musical traditions, Afro-Brazilian rhythms, and liturgical forms, and has been presented by major orchestras and festivals worldwide.
Cuadros del Sur developed from Grau’s earlier work Nazareno (2009), written for pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque, and also based on La Pasión según San Marcos. The current project originated with Trifonov’s proposal for a version involving piano and reduced orchestral forces, which subsequently expanded into a 30-minute suite drawing directly from the original oratorio.
Structured as a sequence of contrasting movements, Cuadros del Sur takes formal inspiration from Pictures at an Exhibition, using a recurring “promenade” theme adapted from Golijov’s score.
Grau writes:
“The promenade is also taken from one of the most heartfelt melodies of La Pasión, and it is presented very simply the first time—like when one enters a museum, fresh and light, having seen nothing yet and full of expectation. As the exhibition unfolds, each picture affects that walk, that feeling … each one transforms the promenade.”
The suite reflects a range of musical styles present in the source work, including Gregorian chant, Cuban guaracha, flamenco cante jondo, and carnival samba. Through this orchestral recontextualization, Cuadros del Sur offers a new instrumental perspective on one of Golijov’s most significant large-scale works.
> Further information on Work: La Pasión según San Marcos
Photo: Yoni Golijov