AXIOM

AXIOM is one of the newest additions to Juilliard’s roster of performing ensembles. This new chamber ensemble, under the leadership of music director Jeffrey Milarsky, is dedicated to performing the masterworks of the 20th- and 21st-century repertoire. Since its debut in Avery Fisher Hall in February 2006, the group has rapidly established itself as a leading ensemble in New York City's contemporary music scene with performances throughout Lincoln Center, in addition to frequent appearances at Columbia University's Miller Theatre and (Le) Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village. Recent collaborations with student artists from Juilliard Dance and Juilliard's Music Technology Center highlight the variety of the ensemble's groundbreaking activities.

AXIOM by Hiroyuki Ito

Highlights from the 2010-2011 season include a three-concert series focusing on the music of Steve Reich and Magnus Lindberg with a final concert featuring Morton Feldman’s monumental Rothko Chapel, his take on abstract expressionist painting that’s also a eulogy to his friend Mark Rothko, presented by Lincoln Center as part of their inaugural Tully Scope festival.

In the 2009-2010 season, AXIOM presented three concerts at Juilliard and a program of pieces for smaller ensemble performed at (Le) Poisson Rouge. The ensemble performed works by Davidovsky, Ligeti, and Birtwistle in October 2009, an all-John Adams program in December 2009, and performed works by Finnish composers Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho in February 2010.

In the 2008-2009 season, AXIOM presented a tribute to Luciano Berio, a concert of Olivier Messiaen’s music, and a concert of works by John Adams, Magnus Lindberg, and Steve Reich. Other highlights from 2008 included two April concerts with James Conlon at John Jay College that surveyed the parallel developments in music, inside and outside the circle of influence of the Third Reich. These two programs featured the music of Poulenc, Stravinsky, Martinů, Schreker, and Antheil.

For two seasons the AXIOM Ensemble was selected to collaborate with Juilliard Dance as part of their “Spring Dances at Juilliard” performances, featuring Bohuslav Martinů’s Field Mass and David Lang’s Increase and This Was Written By Hand in March 2007, and Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, and Dello Joio’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Meditations on Ecclesiastes in March 2008.

The ensemble joined forces with the Juilliard Music Technology Center in April 2007 as part of the annual “Beyond the Machine” concert series in Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theater, performing Ed Bilous’ Lucid Dreams and the world premiere of John King’s Trilogic Unity. AXIOM was the featured ensemble for Miller Theatre’s celebration of Elliott Carter’s 99th birthday in December 2007, performing selections from his chamber music repertoire and the New York stage premiere of his opera What Next? AXIOM concluded its 2007–08 performance season with “Beyond the Machine 8.0: The Groove Collective” on May 3, 2008 at Miller Theatre, with Jeffrey Milarsky conducting the music of Jacob ter Veldhuis and Scott Johnson.

James Conlon conducted the ensemble’s debut performance in February 2006 in Avery Fisher Hall featuring the music of Schoenberg and Debussy.