La Pasión según San Marcos (St. Mark Passion) is a contemporary classical composition by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov.
The work was commissioned by Helmuth Rilling, from the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in 1996 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach.
For that performance, María Guinand conducted the Orquesta La Pasión and the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela, Luciana Souza and Reynaldo Fernández had the role of Afro-Cuban vocalist, while Samia Ibrahim played the soprano.
It is scored for a choir of minimum 54 voices, out of which 8 must be soloists as well; a very large percussion section, which should consist of a berimbau, caxixi, bongos, guataca, okónkolo, maracas, congas, shekere, itótele, bombo legüero, bass drum, timpani, bell, guiro, gua gua, cuica, quinto, surdo cortador, surdo resposta, surdo marcaçao, repnique, chimes, wind chimes, tamtam, tambourine, sea shells, spring drum, iyà, and cymbal; the rest of the Orquesta La Pasión, consisting of a guitar, a tres, an accordion, a piano, a cajón, a contrabass, and sound effects; finally, a last section which should consist of two trumpets in C, two trombones, 12 violins, 12 cellos, and 4 basses.
Alex Ross, from The New Yorker, said about the piece: "It drops like a bomb on the belief that classical music is an exclusively European art.