Columbia University Orchestra

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 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, 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 The Manhattan School of Music as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Percussion Ensemble.  In addition, he has been a regular guest conductor of the Stonybrook University Orchestra. 

A much-in-demand percussionist who has performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic among many ensembles, Mr. Milarsky 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 Music Director and Conductor of the Manhattan Sinfonietta in residence at Columbia University, 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 of 2006 Mr. Milarsky substituted for James Levine at Carnegie Hall, conducting an all Milton Babbitt concert of his chamber music.  In August of 2004, he made his debut with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway, conducting Ravel and Liebermann.  Winter and Spring 2007 will also see conducting dates in Norway, Italy, Paris and Austria, with the Milwaukee Symphony, as well as his debut at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra.  Mr. Milarsky has recently performed at IRCAM in Paris, conducting and recording compositions by Joshua Fineberg and Tristan Murail. In addition, Mr. Milarsky was named the Principal Timpanist for the Santa Fe Opera beginning the summer of 2005.  This season he will work with James Levine and Pierre Boulez preparing the Juilliard Orchestra for programs that will include music of Ives, Carter, Boulez and Varese. 

Mr. Milarsky made his Parisian debut, conducting the BIT20 Ensemble at the Olivier Messiaen Hall at Radio France, in a performance of the prize winning score of Lasse Thoresen’s Lop, Lokk Og Linjar.  Mr. Milarsky is the regular guest conductor of The BIT20 Ensemble, having performed with them around the globe, including Paris, Estonia, Latvia, Norway and Italy.  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 (US 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 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 150 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. (September 2007)

Born in Hokkaido, Japan in 1981, Yoshiaki Onishi is active both as a composer and a conductor, who is currently a Teaching Fellow at Columbia University. His principal teachers at Columbia have been Fabien Lévy, Fred Lerdahl, and Tristan Murail. He received the Artist Diploma (2008) and the Master of Music degrees (2007) in music composition from Yale School of Music. Before Yale, he studied music composition, clarinet and conducting at University of the Pacific, Conservatory of Music (Stockton, California), where he graduated in 2004 with the highest honor.

Written by a New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini in 2010 as: “[…] a composer who can draw such varied, eerily alluring sounds,” Onishi’s music has been performed worldwide by such ensembles as JACK Quartet (US), Next Mushroom Promotion (Japan), Nieuw Ensemble (The Netherlands).

Onishi is a recipient of several honors. He was awarded the Gaudeamus Prize 2011, one of the most prestigious awards given to young composers. Other recent honors include an artistic residency fellowship from Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbertide, Italy, as well as a commission from Ensemble Intercontemporain as a result of Projet Tremplin.

As a conductor, Onishi is in great demand. The ensembles and orchestras he has conducted are Talea Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, Yale Philharmonia, Iktus Percussion, Mantra Percussion, Loadbang, and PMF Academy Ensemble, to name a few. He has collaborated with composers such as Zosha Di Castri, Curtis K. Hughes, Alec Hall, Bryan Jacobs, Wang Lu, Kate Soper and Matthew Ricketts. His interests in promoting contemporary music were featured in the Pacific Music Festival’s 20th year anniversary book.

Luke Rinderknecht, percussionist and arts administrator, has appeared this season with The Knights, Metropolitan Opera, Qatar Philharmonic, Alarm Will Sound, Festival Chamber Music, and Metropolis Ensemble. He has also appeared with the Dirty Projectors, St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Ensemble ACJW, and in the pit of Broadway’s Legally Blonde. He can be heard with The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on their double Grammy Award winning recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man, as well as with The Knights on two albums from Sony Classical, and a third to be released in the fall. As a young lad in Cleveland, Luke studied piano and percussion, eventually appearing as marimba soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra in the Spring of 2001. Since moving to New York in August of 2001, Luke has completed Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at Juilliard, where he received the Peter Mennin Prize for outstanding achievement and leadership in music. Luke now works at Juilliard as manager of Chamber Music and the New Juilliard Ensemble. He is also Orchestra Manager for the Columbia University Orchestra. In the summers he has performed at the Bowdoin, Marlboro, Castleton, and Verbier festivals, and has served on the faculty of the Bowdoin International Music Festival since 2010.