Jeffrey Milarsky
JEFFREY MILARSKY is the leading conductor 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 (which has just named him assistant conductor), 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 faculty of Manhattan School of Music as artistic director and conductor of the Percussion Ensemble.
A much-in-demand percussionist 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.
Recent highlights of Mr. Milarsky’s work include conducting an all-Ravel concert at the Musica Viva Festival in Lawrenceville, New Jersey (summer 2003), as well as returning to Europe to open the ULTIMA Festival in Oslo in the autumn of 2004. That season also includes conducting dates in Norway, Italy, Paris, and Austria. In August of 2003, Mr. Milarsky made his debut with the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway.
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. And 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 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.