Jeffrey Milarsky
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey Milarsky is one of the leading conductors
of contemporary music
in New York City
.
In the United States and abroad, he has premiered and recorded works of many contemporary composers, including Charles Wuorinen
, 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 Bach
to Xenakis
, has enabled him to lead such accomplished groups as the American Composers Orchestra
, the New York New Music Ensemble
, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
, Columbia 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. Most recently, he has joined the conducting faculty of The Juilliard School as artistic director of the AXIOM Ensemble, and serves also as artistic director and conductor of the Manhattan School of Music
Percussion Ensemble, as well as the percussion faculty in their new program for Contemporary Music Performance.
A much-in-demand percussion
ist who has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic among many ensembles, Mr. Milarsky is professor of music at Columbia University
, where he is the music director–conductor of the Columbia University Orchestra. Also at Columbia University, Mr. Milarsky has just been named Music Director and Conductor of the newly formed Columbia Sinfonietta which will concentrate on 20th and 21st century scores. This ensemble, one of the United States' finest instrumental groups, will perform, tour and record throughout the United States.
In May 2006 Mr. Milarsky substituted for James Levine
at Carnegie Hall
, where he conducted an all-Milton Babbitt program with the MET Chamber Ensemble. Recent highlights of Milarsky's work include returning to Europe to open the ULTIMA Festival in Oslo in the autumn of 2004. That season also included conducting dates in Norway, Italy, Paris, and Austria. In August 2003, Milarsky made his debut with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
in Norway. Just recently, he made his debut at IRCAM
in Paris, where he recorded and performed music of Tristan Murail and Joshua Fineberg
with the ENSEMBLE FA. In 2007 he conducted the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Milarsky made his European debut conducting the BIT20 Ensemble
in a tour of Norway and the Baltic states. Other recent highlights include conducting the Cygnus Ensemble in the world premiere of Milton Babbitt's Swansong, conducting the world premiere and recording 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 (American premiere) with Speculum Musicae. With the Ensemble Sospeso, he has conducted three United States premieres by Wolfgang Rihm and two by Tristan Murail.
Milarsky received his bachelor and master of music degrees from the Juilliard School
. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Peter Mennin Prize for outstanding leadership and achievement in the arts. He regularly conducts the Juilliard Orchestra, with whom he has premiered over 70 works of Juilliard student composers over the past fifteen years. He is also on the Pre-College Percussion Faculty at Juilliard, and has been, until recently, director of the Composition Forum.
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.
He is the Music Director of AXIOM (http://www.myspace.com/axiomensemble), Juilliard's new contemporary music ensemble.
He is a 1984 graduate of Central High School (Philadelphia)
.
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
of contemporary music
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
In the United States and abroad, he has premiered and recorded works of many contemporary composers, including Charles Wuorinen
Charles Wuorinen
Charles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
, Milton Babbitt
Milton Babbitt
Milton Byron Babbitt was an American composer, music theorist, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music.-Biography:...
, Elliott Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
, Lasse Thoresen, Gerard Grisey
Gérard Grisey
Gérard Grisey was a French composer of contemporary music.-Biography:Gérard Grisey was born in Belfort, France on 17 June 1946. He studied at the Trossingen Conservatory in Germany from 1963 to 1965 before entering the Conservatoire de Paris...
, Jonathan Dawe, Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail is a French composer. His father, Gérard Murail, is a poet and his mother, Marie-Thérèse Barrois, a journalist. One of his brothers, Lorris Murail, and his younger sister Elvire Murail, aka Moka, also write, and his younger sister Marie-Aude Murail is a French children's writer...
, Ralph Shapey
Ralph Shapey
Ralph Shapey was an American composer and conductor. He is well-known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he founded and directed the Contemporary Chamber Players...
, Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music and remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.- Early years :Born in Venice, he was a member of a wealthy artistic family, and his grandfather was a notable painter...
, Mario Davidovsky
Mario Davidovsky
Mario Davidovsky is an Argentine-American composer. Born in Argentina, he emigrated in 1960 to the US, where he lives today...
, and Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm
Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...
. His wide-ranging repertoire, which spans Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
to Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
, has enabled him to lead such accomplished groups as the American Composers Orchestra
American Composers Orchestra
The American Composers Orchestra is an American orchestra based in New York City. It is the only orchestra in the world dedicated solely to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers...
, the New York New Music Ensemble
New York New Music Ensemble
The New York New Music Ensemble is a contemporary "Pierrot ensemble" chamber music group. The group formed in 1975 by Robert Block.Current members include: flutist Jayn Rosenfeld, clarinetist Jean Kopperud, violinist Linda Quan, cellist Chris Finckel, pianist Stephen Gosling and percussionist...
, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is an American organization dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. Its website states that it is "the nation’s premier repertory company for chamber music."...
, Columbia Sinfonietta, Speculum Musicae
Speculum Musicae
Speculum Musicae is an American chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in New York City in 1971 and is particularly noted for its performances of the music of Elliott Carter...
, Cygnus Ensemble, the Fromm Players at Harvard University, the Composers' Ensemble at Princeton University, and the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
chamber music series. Most recently, he has joined the conducting faculty of The Juilliard School as artistic director of the AXIOM Ensemble, and serves also as artistic director and conductor of the Manhattan School of Music
Manhattan School of Music
The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...
Percussion Ensemble, as well as the percussion faculty in their new program for Contemporary Music Performance.
A much-in-demand percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
ist who has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic among many ensembles, Mr. Milarsky is professor of music at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he is the music director–conductor of the Columbia University Orchestra. Also at Columbia University, Mr. Milarsky has just been named Music Director and Conductor of the newly formed Columbia Sinfonietta which will concentrate on 20th and 21st century scores. This ensemble, one of the United States' finest instrumental groups, will perform, tour and record throughout the United States.
In May 2006 Mr. Milarsky substituted for James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, where he conducted an all-Milton Babbitt program with the MET Chamber Ensemble. Recent highlights of Milarsky's work include returning to Europe to open the ULTIMA Festival in Oslo in the autumn of 2004. That season also included conducting dates in Norway, Italy, Paris, and Austria. In August 2003, Milarsky made his debut with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world's oldest orchestral institutions. It performs some 110 concerts a year, and is based at the 1,500-seat Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.-History:...
in Norway. Just recently, he made his debut at IRCAM
IRCAM
IRCAM is a European institute for science about music and sound and avant garde electro-acoustical art music. It is situated next to, and is organizationally linked with, the Centre Pompidou in Paris...
in Paris, where he recorded and performed music of Tristan Murail and Joshua Fineberg
Joshua Fineberg
Joshua Fineberg is an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:Joshua Fineberg was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He began his musical studies at the age of five...
with the ENSEMBLE FA. In 2007 he conducted the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Milarsky made his European debut conducting the BIT20 Ensemble
BIT20 Ensemble
BIT20 Ensemble is a contemporary music ensemble from Bergen, Norway, founded in 1989 for the purpose of performing and advancing Norwegian and international art music....
in a tour of Norway and the Baltic states. Other recent highlights include conducting the Cygnus Ensemble in the world premiere of Milton Babbitt's Swansong, conducting the world premiere and recording 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 (American premiere) with Speculum Musicae. With the Ensemble Sospeso, he has conducted three United States premieres by Wolfgang Rihm and two by Tristan Murail.
Milarsky received his bachelor and master of music degrees from the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
. Upon graduation, he was awarded the Peter Mennin Prize for outstanding leadership and achievement in the arts. He regularly conducts the Juilliard Orchestra, with whom he has premiered over 70 works of Juilliard student composers over the past fifteen years. He is also on the Pre-College Percussion Faculty at Juilliard, and has been, until recently, director of the Composition Forum.
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.
He is the Music Director of AXIOM (http://www.myspace.com/axiomensemble), Juilliard's new contemporary music ensemble.
He is a 1984 graduate of Central High School (Philadelphia)
Central High School (Philadelphia)
Central High School is a public secondary school in the Logan section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Central, the second-oldest continuously public high school in the United States , was founded in 1836 and is a four-year university preparatory magnet school...
.