Creation
Creation (2026)
This evening-length work, with book by David Henry Hwang and lyrics by Leah Hager Cohen, is written for orchestra, adult choir, children’s choir, and four soloists: percussion master Cyro Baptista, kamancheh master Kayhan Kalhor, vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines. Longtime collaborator Jeremy Flower provides electronics, electric guitar, and sound design.
Creation features artwork by Alex Sopp—commissioned by the Prior Performing Arts Center, where Golijov serves as the Composer-in-Residence—in projections designed by Camilla Tassi.
In describing the work, which is composed of questions and stories about the Creation of the Universe, Golijov writes:
There’s no Big Bang or “In the Beginning” here. In fact, there’s no beginning, only a constant swirl of atoms that gives birth and brings death to everything except for the dancing atoms themselves. Every being, including each of us, is a temporary constellation of atoms - a doctrine philosophers and scientists call “atomism”. Here is a story told in turns by the oldest tree in the world, by the first ever born to a woman, by Vincent Van Gogh, by a chorus of little ones eternally asking Why?, by magnificent creatures both real and imaginary, and by Life Force itself. It is a hymn to life composed of life, composed of celebration and lamentation, of wonder and rue and love, and all of it in motion.