Abiquiu Chamber Music

This concert is significantly underwritten through the great generosity of SUSAN and CHARLES MIZE of Tesuque, NM; and SALLY PATTON and RICK GRENZEBACK of Abiquiu, NM. 

ACMF's opening concert unites two of Brazil's truly outstanding musical artists in an exciting program that showcases each performer's virtuosity, their impeccable ensemble, as well as the duo's warmth and poetic communication. The two centerpieces are the rarely performed Schubert Fantasy, and Matthew Aucoin's Its Own Accord (NM Premiere) as well as including Paganini's solo violin Caprices, Guarnieri's Ponteos for solo piano, and the thrilling Road Movies by John Adams. 

 Violinist CÁRMELO DE LOS SANTOS began his violin studies at the age of nine in his native Brazil and first came to prominence in 1993 after winning the country's most prestigious music prize, the Eldorado Prize, and São Paulo Prize. Subsequently, he was the first prizewinner of the Júlio Cardona International Competition, held in Covilhã, Portugal, a decade later. The artist has performed at the prestigious Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall with the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, both as a soloist and conductor, and in numerous other prestigious competitions, including the Paganini Moscow International Violin Competition. In 1997 he came to the U.S. in order to study with Sylvia Rosenberg at the Manhattan School of Music and then completed his doctorate at the University of Georgia with Russian violinist Levon Ambartsumian. Cármelo performs regularly as soloist with major orchestras in Brazil and South America, at prominent music festivals in the U.S. and abroad, as a recital player, as well as being a member of REVEL and the Taos Chamber Music Group. He has also recorded many programs for radio and television in Brazil. Cármelo's CD on the Eldorado Radio label features Brazilian and other 20th century composers. His recently released 24 Caprices of Paganini will be available at the concert. Many of his concerto performances are easily found on YouTube. Cármelo is  Associate Professor of Violin at the University of New Mexico and has performed as soloist at ACMF during the second season in 2009 and the 2013 and 2015 seasons when the Duo Brazil Brilliance collaboration was formed. We are therefore delighted to have him returning to celebrate ACMF's 10th season. Cármelo is also an accomplished, semi-professional magician. Whereas he may not be pulling rabbits out of a hat, he will most certainly be performing his unparalled musical magic on the audience.  Although frequently touring, Cármelo makes his home in Albuquerque with his wife Eugenia and eight year old son Arthur. 

RÚBIA SANTOS is among the most sought-after collaborative pianists from Brazil. She has performed as soloist and collaborative pianist in the Americas, Europe, and China. Praised by the Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung as a performer “who leaves the audience stunned by her provocative pianism as well as her enthusiastic temperament,” She has collaborated with members of the Berliner Philharmonic, São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Los Angles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to cite a few. For many years she has specialized in instrumental chamber music repertoire, joining as a soloist with various ensembles and has been a yearly guest artist with the Quarteto de Cordas da Cidade de São Paulo, Brazil. Her love for poetry and knowledge of languages has taken her into various collaborations with singers, among them Christiane Oelze, Deborah Domanski, Sarah Wolfson, David Dillard, Javier Gonzales, and Laura de Souza. Rúbia has received numerous awards for her many collaborative CDs, which include the complete works for violin and piano of Camargo Guarnieri and of Lena Pieres de Campos, both with violinist Betina Stegman. She has also recently recorded two chamber works by American composer and Pulitzer Prize Winner, Jennifer Higdon. Originally trained in her native Brazil, then Germany and the U.S., Rúbia has taught at universities in those three countries and presents master classes, workshops, and lectures world-wide, as well as adjudicating competitions in Brazil, Costa Rica, and the U.S. Dr. Santos holds the Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Arizona State University in Tempe and the Artist Diploma from the Hochschüle für Musik in Cologne, Germany. Most recently, she became a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner®. Following her solo program of Brazilian music for ACMF Valentine's Donor Thank You Concert, she will be performing at the University of Costa Rica in San José and at the Museum Regional de San Ramón. We are pleased to welcome Rúbia back following stellar collaborative performances at ACMF in 2012, 2013, and 2015 seasons. Rúbia makes her home in Costa Rica with her husband Jeffrey and cat Buddha. 

 Although ACMF strives to present all artists and programming as advertised, we reserve the right to make comparable artist or program substitution as might become necessary.

This concert is entirely underwritten through the great generosity of ISABEL and SAM JEWELL of Abiquiu, NM.

ACMF is delighted to unite--and showcase--two outstanding artists of the youngest generation of prominent artists in the NM Premiere of Matthew Aucoin's "Merrill Songs," book-ended by works by two of the most iconic composers of English-language song, Henry Purcell and the incomparable Benjamin Britten. In addition, selections from the rarely performed Clairieres dans le ciel by Lili Boulanger will conclude the program. These featured composers represent the perfect unity of words-and-music, from the 17th, 20th, and 21st centuries. 

 JAMES ONSTAD, a native of Santa Fe, NM, holds a degree from Harvard in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and a master’s degree in vocal performance from the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of  Cincinnati. At CCM, James performed the roles of Silvio in Bizet’s Le Docteur Miracle, and Sam in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene. James performed widely in the Boston area, singing Rev. Parris in Robert Ward’s The Crucible with Boston Opera Collaborative and the title character in Bernstein’s Candide with Lowell House Opera—New England’s oldest opera company. In the spring of 2015, he sang in the world premiere of Matt Aucoin’s Crossing with the American Repertory Theater, directed by Diane Paulus, and went on to premiere the role of Jake in Matt Aucoin's Second Nature with Chicago Lyric Unlimited. Recently, James premiered the role of Orfeo in Hopscotch—a multi-composer, immersive opera—with The Industry in Los Angeles. He will premiere the role of Ted in Andrew McIntosh's Bonnie and Clyde with The Industry in February, 2017. As recitalist, James appeared on St. John's University concert series.As a passionate devotee of Art Song—a form that is often overshadowed by opera and oratorio—James has coached with such champions of this genre as Graham Johnson, Margo Garrett and Martin Katz, and Kenneth Griffiths. James and MATTHEW AUCOIN met while working on a school production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at Harvard University. James, a senior, played Tom Rakewell while Matt, a freshman, led rehearsals, prepared the chorus and sang in the show, which was presented in a dining hall. Since that time, James has helped breath life into a number of Matt's works, and is thrilled and delighted to do so again at ACMF. James currently makes his home in Los Angeles.

MATTHEW AUCOIN is an American composer, conductor, writer, and pianist. He is the newly-appointed Artist-in-Residence at Los Angeles Opera. This position, created for Aucoin, fuses his work as composer and conductor. Matt just conducted the Los Angeles premiere in November of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten. He is composing a new full-length work for LA Opera which will premiere in a future season. In October 2016, pianist Conor Hanick--ACMF's pianist in resident ensemble Trio Arriba--and the Alabama Symphony gave the first performances of Matthew's first piano concerto, commissioned by The Gilmore Foundation. Earlier, Matthew conducted the premiere of his new orchestral work, Evidence, commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Last season, his song cycle Merrill Songs (set to texts by James Merrill) was premiered by tenor Paul Appleby at Carnegie Hall, which co-commissioned the work along with Wigmore Hall, London. Matthew is a 2012 graduate of Harvard College, where he studied with the poet Jorie Graham; and a 2013 recipient of a graduate diploma in composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with composer Robert Beaser. Shortly before he graduated from Harvard, Matthew was hired as the youngest Assistant Conductor in the history of the Metropolitan Opera, where he worked with Thomas Adès, James Levine, and Valery Gergiev. From 2013 to 2015, he was the Solti Conducting Apprentice at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where he studied with Riccardo Muti and, in 2014, made his CSO debut substituting for an indisposed Pierre Boulez. Matthew manages to remain an active pianist: With his regular collaborator, violinist Keir GoGwilt, he has recently given recitals in New York, Boston, Edinburgh, Spoleto (Italy) and Toronto. He also regularly performs with many of the world’s leading opera singers, including Renée Fleming, Paulo Szot, Rod Gilfry, and Anthony Roth Costanzo. He has also performed as a pianist in several Chicago Symphony Orchestra chamber concerts. Matthew has been the subject of major profiles in The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and The Chicago Tribune. His music has been featured on radio programs including This American Life, From the Top, and Studio 360. Although his career is global, Matthew resides in Cambridge, MA as his home base. ACMF is honored to have Matt as the season's Featured Composer on each concert as well as performer in this collaborative concert. 

Although ACMF strives to present all artists and programming as advertised, we reserve the right to make comparable artist or program substitution as might become necessary.

This concert is significantly underwritten through the great generosity of ANONYMOUS of Chicago, IL; ANNE BECKETT of Youngsville, NM; and by MELODIE and JON USHER of Abiquiu, NM. 

The sharply-etched rhythms and wide-open "trademark" harmonies of Aaron Copland's Sextet (Piano, clarinet, String Quartet) open this unique program and is followed by Matthew Aucoin's elegant and ethereal Celan Fragments in its
World Premiere arrangement for Piano Quintet. The concert's second half features Osvaldo Golijov's monumental Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, for Klezmer Clarinet and String Quartet. The work was inspired by the writings of the great Kabbalist Rabbi of the title, from Provence eight centuries ago, 

 JAMES SHIELDS, Clarinet, joined the Oregon Symphony as Principal Clarinet in the autumn of 2016. Before relocating to Portland, James served as principal clarinet of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, as well as the New Mexico Philharmonic in Albuquerque. A graduate of The Juilliard School, James studied with Ricardo Morales, principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra. James has appeared as a soloist with the Oregon Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Interlochen’s World Youth Symphony Orchestra (MI), and the Albuquerque Philharmonic (NM), and as guest principal clarinet with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival (CO), and Santa Fe Pro Musica (NM).  In addition to his orchestral and solo activities, Mr. Shields is increasingly becoming known to North American audiences as a dynamic and passionate performer of chamber music, making over 30 appearances annually in more intimate settings throughout the United States and Canada.  James is the co-artistic director of Chatter, an Albuquerque-based chamber music organization that presents more than 60 concerts per year; he has also been a featured soloist in Chatter concerts. In addition to his performing activities, James holds an M.M. in composition from the University of New Mexico, and continues to compose regularly. A recent review from the Albuquerque Journal enthused that …Shields performed with an exceptional beauty of tone and dynamics ranging from arresting fortes to subtle pianissimos, gentle zephyrs of sound seemly coming out of nowhere especially in the sublime Adagio... The final Rondo:Allegro was testimony to the sheer joy of being alive. He and his partner Shelley Brown (Flutist with the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet) and their dog Ruby share transcontinental homes in Portland and Toronto. ACMF welcomes James' return after his 2016 stunning performance of the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets.

 DEBRA AYERS Piano, performs internationally with instrumentalists, singers and chamber music ensembles. Co-founder of Montage Music Society, Debra also performs with Abiquiu Chamber Music Festival, Albuquerque Chamber Soloists, Serenata of Santa Fe, Sunday Chatter, Taos Chamber Music Group and Santa Fe Desert Chorale. She has enjoyed collaborations with Aspen Music Festival Chamber Players; American, Apple Hill, La Catrina and Vega string quartets; Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Ballet Pro Musica’s Chamber Ballet, Breckenridge Music Festival, the International Piatti Cello Festival and at Denver’s annual JAAMM Festival. A proponent of contemporary music, premieres include works by Ofer Ben-Amots, William Bolcom, Paul Elwood, Jeff Harrington, Andrew List, Daniel Schnyder, Ronald Strauss, Bruce Wolosoff and Yehudi Wyner. Debra and cellist Marc Moskovitz presented the North American premiere of the rediscovered Zemlinsky Cello Sonata at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.  An alumna of the University of Southern California and the University of Wisconsin, her teachers include Gwendolyn Koldofsky, Jean Barr, André-Michel Schub, Brooks Smith, Martin Katz, and John Barrows. Debra can be heard on a number of critically- acclaimed recordings, including “STARRY NIGHT Project…music based on visual art” (MSR) and Music of Ernst Krenek with soprano Ilana Davidson. Her newest recordings (music by Ofer Ben-Amots) are in the Milken Archive. ACMF has been delighted to have Debra performing here in 2015 with Montage Music and 2016 with the NM Winds.  She makes her home in Santa Fe with husband Gregg De Prince.

Praised by the Santa Fe New Mexican for his “fluid phrases; rich, focused tone; rhythmic precision; and spot-on intonation”, Albuquerque native, violinist and conductor DAVID FELBERG is Artistic Director and co-founder of Chatter Sunday, Chatter 20-21, and Chatter Cabaret.  He is Concertmaster of the Santa Fe Symphony and Music Director of the Albuquerque Philharmonic. He also teaches contemporary music at the University of New Mexico and is the associate concertmaster of the New Mexico Philharmonic.  His robust conducting career has included conducting the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, and many performances of contemporary music with Chatter.  David performs throughout the southwest as concert soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.  He made his New York debut in Merkin Hall in 2005. He received a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Arizona and a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of New Mexico.  He has taken advanced string quartet studies at the University of Colorado with the Takacs Quartet and was awarded a fellowship to attend the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival. David has been delighting ACMF audiences with his performances every season since 2009, including his regular performance with our resident ensemble, Trio Arriba.  

This concert is gratefully underwritten through the great generosity of SUSAN CHANDLER, Tucson, AZ; JANET HARRINGTON and ROBERT WHITE of Abiquiu, NM; and PIANOWERKES of Albuquerque, NM.

This virtuosic solo program showcases some of the most exciting---yet poignant--works of the solo repertoire, ranging from the 18th through the 21st centuries. The brilliance of Matthew Aucoin's Etudes (NM Premiere); the reflective Beethoven Op. 27, No. 2 (Moonlight); the heart-churning Fourth Ballade in Fm, Op. 52 of Chopin; and the elegance of the shimmering Jeux d'eaux a la villa d'este by Liszt will all be polished off with the rarely heard pyrotechnics of Alfred Grunfeld's paraphrase of Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus. 

 Canadian pianist CHRISTINE YOSHIKAWA has established herself as one of Canada’s exciting young pianists of her generation. Her performances have garnered international acclaim and critics have praised her as a pianist of "pure power” (South Bend Tribune), "remarkable endurance, refinement, precision and authority", and "radiant lyricism, elegance and warmth". (The Observer). In recent seasons her wide ranging recital and concerto repertoire from Beethoven to Xenakis has been applauded; and her international career includes performances in major cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Madrid, Paris, Munich, Prague, Sofia, and Tokyo. After making her concerto debut with Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the London Westminster Philharmonic at the age of 9, she has since appeared as soloist with major orchestras including the Orchestre Philharmonie d'Avignon France, Kammerorchester Dusseldorf (Germany), Pazardjik National Symphony of Bulgaria, Olympia Symphony, Elkhart Symphony, Sydney Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Youth Symphony, and Nagoya Gakuen Philharmonic (Japan) among others.

Winner of many national and international competitions including the Canadian Music Competitions, Young Concert Artist Guild, Grand Prize Laureate of the 1998 Kromeriz International Piano Festival Competition (Czech Republic), Ehrhart Chamber International Competition, and Second-Prize Winner of the Yakov Flier International Piano Competition among others, solo highlights of recent seasons include a recital debut in Spain, the Olomouc Philharmonic Hall (Czech Republic), Grand Théâtre de Québec, Steinway Festival (FL), and performances of concerti by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Chausson, Mendelssohn, and Rachmaninoff with orchestras in Chicago, London, Richmond, Fort Nelson, Penticton, and in Indiana and Florida, and a world premiere in Glasgow, Scotland in a performance of Andrew Albright's Six Vignettes for Piano and Chamber Strings with the Kensington Concertante.

Beginning her piano studies at age 2 with her mother, and later with Jocelyn Pritchard and Jean-Luc Pelletier in Paris, Christine won first place in the Canadian Music Competitions at the age of 6, and by the age of 10, she had earned diplomas with first class honors and top medals from the Western Board and the Royal School of Music in London. Additionally, she was awarded a full scholarship to study with distinguished pianist Gyorgy Sebok of Indiana University Bloomington, at the Banff Centre of the Performing Arts, and was a Charter Fellow of the prestigious Toradze Institute at Indiana University South Bend under the tutelage of Martin Professor of Piano, Alexander Toradze. She received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from Arizona State University as a pupil of renowned American pianist Robert Hamilton. Dr. Yoshikawa was named the Mary Louise Remy Endowed Scholar, a recognition reserved for the top two of just 85 Research Scholars across North America selected from over 6000 nation-wide nominations. She is also the winner of the prestigious Kieckhefer Doctoral Dissertation Award, for her research on the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, the Aiken-Rockfeller Concert Artist Career Grant and Medallion, British Columbia Arts Council Grant from the Government of Canada, Regent Scholar, and the President's Scholar Award. She holds additional performance degrees with distinction honours from the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia where her former teachers include Arthur Rowe and Jane Coop.

A committed educator, Christine conducts clinics and masterclasses internationally and has held teaching positions at the University of British Columbia and Arizona State University. Currently, Dr. Yoshikawa serves on the faculty of Chipola College. She is on the roster of Recording Artists for Eroica Classical Recordings. Various performances are archived at the Canadian Music Centres across Canada and at Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, and her concerts are broadcast on national radio across North America and abroad. Christine first appeared at ACMF in 2012 and we are thrilled at her return for the 10th Anniversary Celebration. Christine currently makes her home in Marianna, FL, with her 8 year old daughter Catie Noelle and their Himalyan kitty Sapphire.

This concert is significantly underwritten through the great generosity of ABIQUIU VALLEY FARM, Abiquiu, NM; with the appearance of DiYi Tang underwritten through the great generosity of LUCY AND JAMES WANG of Shanghai, China/Rancho Mirage, CA. 

ACMF's season finale is an eclectic showcase of vibrant works not only rarely programmed---but rarely programmed together!  The artist roster for the closing concert includes 15 distinguished musicians and our incomparable NYC conductor Jeffrey Milarsky, all prominent in their respective instruments. Artists are united to bring listeners these widely ranging works of the 20th and 21st centuries.  Matthew Aucoin's tender, Op.1 Poem is presented along with his Piano Trio, both NM Premieres.  Celebrating Steve Reich's 80th birthday year, ACMF opens with his Pieces for Wood (5 percussion); progressing to the virtuosic Madrigals for Violin/Viola Duo of Martinu. The concert concludes with the brilliant soprano Sarah Wolfson in the Folk Songs of Luciano Berio, with the ACMF Artist Ensemble of viola, cello, harp, flute/piccolo, clarinet, and two percussion. You won't want to miss this wonderfully diverse program.

Lyric Soprano SARAH WOLFSON continually demonstrates a remarkable ability to communicate with an audience, whether in recital or on the operatic stage. The New York Times called her a keenly intelligent artist…who sings with luminous sound and impressively focused high notes. Sarah Wolfson is on the MET roster, having just performed in 2017 in their production of Fidelio. During 2014, Ms. Wolfson performed solo recitals in South Carolina; was soloist for the Brahms Requiem Beethoven's 9th with Symphony of Northwest Arkansas; sang the Fauré Requiem with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra; and did the entire Bolcom Cabaret Songs. In addition to performing with New York Festival of Song (NYFOS) as part of its Next series, she also appeared in the Market Square Concerts in Pennsylvania where she sang the world premieres of song cycles by Jeremy Gill, Jake Heggie, and Paul Moravec. In addition, she has performed the opera premiere of Jetzt by Mathis Nitchke, and has sung Rose in Elliott Carter's What Next at Opéra de Montpellier. Ms. Wolfson was hailed by ResMusica: [As Rose] the American soprano Sarah Wolfson prevails by far, her performance possessing the exuberance, the color, and the sensuality required for the part. In past seasons, Ms. Wolfson presented a recital series that featured American composers Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, and Charles Ives. She also performed an all Kurt Weill cabaret program titled Foolish Heart: Kurt Weill's Search for Love and Home from Berlin to Broadway in New York City at the Neue Galerie's Cafe Sabarsky. In addition she has sung solo recitals in Florida, Virginia, and, Arkansas. She performed Schumann at Symphony Space as part of Simply Schumann, and was invited to sing Der Hirt auf dem Felsen with Antares Ensemble as part of The Newtown, CT Chamber Music Series and was hailed by The Connecticut News-Times for her powerful [and] evocative voice…total control of her lyric soprano voice…[and] vibrant vocals. In addition to her busy performance career, Ms. Wolfson is also Associate Professor of Voice at Columbia University. She first performed at ACMF in the 2015 season.

Founder and Artistic Director of The Sound of Manhattan International Music Festival and Competition in New York City(SOM), Pianist DIYI TANG has established himself as one of the leading artists in his generation. Mr. Tang is recipient of prize and awards from the prestigious William Kapell International Piano Competition in Maryland, Virginia Waring International Competition in Palm Springs, Chopin International Piano Competition in Moscow, and recipient of a fellowship of  the Anna and John J Sie Foundation. Mr. Tang made his Lincoln Center debut with Mannes Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall, He has also performed as a guest soloist with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, South Carolina Symphony, Shanghai Symphony and Beijing Symphony. Mr. Tang has frequently invited to performed at noted venues, such as The Union Club, Javits Center, Asia Society and China Institute Chinese New Year Gala. Mr. Tang has over a dozen concerti in his repertoire,has appeared in chamber music concerts and has most recently collaborated with principle players of the NY Philharmonic in Vail Colorado. Mr. Tang has been appointed as chief adjudicator to judge Sinovision “ Teen’s Talent show”, a live broadcasted program providing individualized commenting and professional support to deserved young musicians. He counts among his great musical influences and mentors Jerome Lowenthal, Wang Jian Zhong and You Da Chun. He has studied with numerous distinguished pianists including Dr. Min Kwon, Pavlina Dokovska and Richard Goode. Mr. Tang is making his first appearance at ACMF in the NM premiere of Matthew Aucoin's Piano Trio.

 American Conductor JEFFREY MILARSKY is highly acclaimed worldwide for his impeccable musicianship, exhilarating presence and innovative programming.  Mr. Milarsky returns this season to conduct the ACMF Ensemble for the Berio performance. He has been hailed for his interpretation of a wide range of repertoire, which spans Bach to Xenakis.  In recent seasons he has worked with the San Francisco Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, MET Chamber Ensemble, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, New York City Opera, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New World Symphony, Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic chamber music series. In the U.S. and abroad, he has premiered and recorded works by numerous contemporary composers in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and at IRCAM in Paris. In June of 2015 Mr. Milarsky made his New York Philharmonic debut conducting the CONTACT series, a Japanese based program including music of Takemitsu, Messiaen, Fujikura, and Mochizuki.  He was invited again in November of 2015 to conduct works by Marion Davidovsky.  In 2017, Mr Milarsky will lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Walt Disney Concert Hall, a program devoted to Steve Reich, celebrating his 80th birthday. Mr. Milarsky has a long history of premiering, recording and performing American composers and has frequently conducted the works of Philip Glass, working in close collaboration with the composer. A dedicated teacher, Mr. Milarsky is a Senior Lecturer in Music at Columbia University, where he is the Music Director and Conductor of the Columbia University Orchestra. In addition to conducting the Juilliard Orchestra, he is the Music Director of AXIOM, The Juilliard School’s critically acclaimed contemporary music ensemble, and serves on the conducting faculty at Juilliard. Also much-in-demand as timpanist and percussionist, Mr. Milarsky has been the Principal Timpanist for the Santa Fe Opera since 2005.  In addition, he has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony.  He has recorded extensively for the labels of Angel, Bridge, Teldec, Telarc, New World, CRI, Music Masters, EMI, Koch, and London.