For the 25th wedding anniversary of the married couple Judith N. and Robert P. Goldberg- she a music pedagogue, he an internationally respected programmer- the idea for the New Goldberg Variations project was born. With the assistance of their friend Yo-Yo Ma, numerous renowned American composers were contacted for the project, each of whom presented the couple with new variations for violoncello and piano. Midway through the project, Robert Goldberg was diagnosed with cancer and died only a few months later. Judith remembers: “I decided to carry on with the project. I really wanted it to be a celebration. The motivation for our commission was to celebrate our very happy life together. And then the music became a memorial celebrating that wonderful life.” The six compositions of the New Goldberg Variations were premiered on August 24, 1997 in the Jordan Hall in Boston, Massachusetts by Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax in the presence of five of the composers and have been gaining in popularity every since.
