Juilliard's AXIOM Ensemble, led by conductor Jeffrey Milarsky, performs Messiaen's "Des canyons aux etoiles" on Wednesday, February 27 at 8 PM in the School's Peter Jay Sharp Theater

Juilliard’s AXIOM ensemble, led by conductor Jeffrey Milarsky, performs Messiaen’s Des canyons aux etoiles (1974) on Wednesday, February 27 at 8 PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater. Featured soloists in the work are: Conor Hanick and Matthew Odell, pianos; James Ferree, French horn; Tomoya Aomori, glockenspiel; and Chihiro Shibayama, xylorimba. Des canyons aux etoiles was commissioned by philanthropist Alice Tully and was Messiaen’s first American commission. The work had its premiere in 1974 with conductor Frederic Waldman and the Musica Aeterna Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall. This year marks the 100th anniversary of French composer, organist, and teacher Olivier Messiaen (b. Avignon, December 10, 1908; d. Paris, April 28, 1992.)

Des canyons aux etoiles takes its title from Bryce Canyon in Utah. Of the work, Messiaen wrote in a note before the first performance: “Canyons was written to glorify God in the Beauties of His Creations: from the colours of the earth and the songs of the birds to the colours of the stars and the Resurrected One in Heaven.” The work is orchestrated for quadruple woodwind, nine brass, solo horn, a large percussion section with prominent xylorimba and glockenspiel parts, and 13 solo strings. 
       
Messiaen’s work has three parts (of five, two, and five movements) and is his longest work for the orchestra. The movements of the work are entitled: The Desert; The Orioles; What is Written in the Stars; The White-Browed Robin; Cedar Breaks and the Gift of Awe; Interstellar Call; Bryce Canyon and the Red-Orange Rocks; The Resurrected and the Song of the Star Aldebaran; The Mockingbird; The Wood Thrush; Omao, Leiothrix, Eleopaio, Shama; and Zion Park and the Celestial City.

AXIOM’s next performances take place on Sunday, April 13 at 3 PM and Wednesday, April 16 at 8 PM with conductor James Conlon at John Jay College as part of Mr. Conlon’s two-year Juilliard residency related to the performance and study of the Recovered Voices: the musicians and music suppressed by Nazi Germany. The two programs focus on Generative and Degenerative Music with works by Pavel Haas, Hans Krása, Poulenc, Stravinsky, Martinu, Schreker, and Antheil.

FREE tickets are available at the Juilliard Box Office, located at 60 Lincoln Center Plaza. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday from 11 AM – 6 PM.  The Juilliard Box Office is accessible by elevator, escalator, or stairs located on W. 65th Street near Amsterdam Avenue. For further information, call the Juilliard Box Office at (212) 769-7406 or visit the Web site at www.juilliard.edu.

The newest addition to Juilliard’s roster of performing ensembles is AXIOM, which was formed by student initiative in 2005. This new chamber ensemble, lead by Music Director Jeffrey Milarsky, is dedicated to performing the masterworks of the twentieth-century repertoire. AXIOM is comprised of a flexible roster of current Juilliard students and recent graduates who, in addition to performing, oversee the organizational and administrative needs of the ensemble. In December 2006, James Conlon conducted the ensemble’s debut performance in Avery Fisher Hall featuring the music of Schoenberg and Debussy. For the past two seasons AXIOM has been the featured instrumental ensemble for the Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Recital, performing Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs with soprano Sarah Wolfson in 2005 and the world premiere of Josef Bardanashvili’s Three Scenes with soprano Raquela Sheeran in 2006. In addition, the AXIOM Ensemble was selected to collaborate with the Juilliard Dance Division as part of their “Spring Dances at Juilliard” performances in March, 2007. These concerts featured Bohuslav Martinu’s Soldier’s Mass and David Lang’s Increase and This Was Written By Hand. The ensemble collaborated 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. As part of these presentations of electronic and interactive music, AXIOM performed Ed Bilous’ Lucid Dreams, which was composed for and premiered by the American Composers Orchestra in Zankel Hall, 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 the New York stage premiere of his opera, What Next?

Other highlights from the upcoming performance season include performances on April 13 and 16, 2008 with James Conlon at John Jay College (see page 1 of this release). AXIOM will conclude its 2007-08 performance season with “Beyond the Machine 8.0” The Groove Collective on May 3, 2008 at Miller Theatre; Jeffrey Milarsky will conduct the music of Jacob ter Veldhuis and Scott Johnson.

Jeffrey Milarsky is Music Director of AXIOM, Juilliard’s newest contemporary music ensemble. As a conductor of contemporary music, he has premiered and recorded works by contemporary composers, including Charles Wuorinen, Fred Lerdahl, Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, Lasse Thoresen, Gerard Grisey, Jonathan Dawe, Tristan Murail, Ralph Shapey, Luigi Nono, Mario Davidovsky and Wolfgang Rihm. His wide ranging repertoire, which spans from Bach to Xenakis, has brought him to lead such accomplished groups as the American Composers Orchestra, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Manhattan Sinfonietta, Speculum Musicae, Cygnus Ensemble, The Fromm Players at Harvard University, The Composers’ Ensemble at Princeton University, and the New York Philharmonic chamber music series. He is a member of the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music as artistic director and conductor of the percussion ensemble. He has been a regular guest conductor of the Stony Brook Orchestra. Mr. Milarsky also is professor in music at Columbia University, where he is the music director/conductor of the Columbia University Orchestra. Also at Columbia University, Mr. Milarsky is the music director and conductor of the newly-formed Manhattan Sinfonietta which will concentrate on 20th and 21st century scores. This ensemble, in residence at Columbia University, will perform, tour and record throughout the United States and abroad.

Recent highlights include conducting the Cygnus Ensemble in the world premiere of Milton Babbitt’s Swansong, conducting the world premiere and recording of Mario Davidovsky’s Flashbacks, and several area premieres of the music of Gerard Grisey: Les Espaces Acoustiques (New York premiere) for Columbia University’s “Music for a New Century” series and Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil (U.S. premiere) with Speculum Musicae. With the Ensemble Sospeso, he has conducted three United States premieres by Wolfgang Rihm, and two by Tristan Murail.

Mr. Milarsky received his bachelor and master of music degrees from Juilliard. He also is a member of the Pre-College Percussion Faculty at Juilliard. As an active chamber and orchestral musician, Mr. Milarsky performs and records regularly with the New York Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the American Composers Orchestra, the Stamford Symphony and Concordia. He has recorded extensively for Angel, Bridge, Teldec, Telarc, New World, CRI, MusicMasters, EMI, Koch, and London records.