In 1991, Golijov joined the faculty of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was named Loyola Professor of Music in 2007.
He was previously married to architect and designer Neri Oxman.,[5] and has three children with his first wife, Silvia, who is a Special Education teacher.
[7] His Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind was inspired by the writings and teachings of Rabbi Yitzhak Saggi Nehor.
He composed La Pasión según San Marcos for the Passion 2000 project in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach.
[13] Golijov composed the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis" which he subsequently developed into a symphonic work premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on November 8, 2024.
[19] Tom Manoff, a composer and critic, and Brian McWhorter, a trumpeter, alleged that Golijov's Sidereus was largely copied from Michael Ward-Bergeman's composition Barbeich.
Alex Ross of The New Yorker reviewed both scores and wrote, "To put it bluntly, 'Sidereus' is 'Barbeich' with additional material attached."
[23] Some of Golijov's notable works include the following:[24] "Megalopolis" premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on November 8, 2024.