Lawrence Axelrod creates and leads
fun and successful educational opera trips in the United States and Europe.
Cassandra Speaks
was premiered by the San Jose Symphony (CA) in June of 1999 with music director Leonid Grin conducting.
Mr. Axelrod was a founder
and past president of the Chicago Composers’ Consortium, the city’s oldest non-university contemporary music group.
Biography, Lawrence Axelrod
A recent review in Gramophone Magazine of the new CD 5 x 4 says that: “on the evidence of the works collected on [this CD], Mr. Axelrod has a decided gift… for chamber and instrumental music.” It goes on further to say that one work, Emeq, is “a fascinating depiction” of the Alaskan landscape and that Four Large Objects “is a thoroughly engaging essay in sonority.” A review of an earlier CD in Opera News states that Lawrence Axelrod is “a … composer whose fresh and distinctive music deserves to be more widely known.”
At once composer, pianist and conductor, Mr Axelrod’s musical activities have taken him around the United States, Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. As a composer, Mr. Axelrod has had works done by Spektral Quartet, Durward Ensemble, ~Nois Saxophone Quartet, the London Sylvan Ensemble, Quintet Attacca, The Chicago Composers Orchestra, Palomar, Ensemble Dal Niente, Pinotage, The Lincoln Trio, The Duo Ahlert/Schwab, and The Verdi String Quartet in recent seasons. He was composer-in-residence at the 2025 Luft und Raum Festival in Bonn, Germany. Gentle Repercussions for percussion duo was premiered in Lisbon, Portugal in March 2024. The Duo Cortona gave the premiere of The Tale of Peter Rabbit in Chicago, IL in April 2024 followed by the European premiere in June 2024. (Un)settled for piano and electronics was premiered in Lisbon, Portugal in October 2023 followed by the US premiere in November 2023. Music for Flutes was premiered at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in October 2023 followed by a performance at the University of Nevada Las Vegas in October 2023. The Durward Ensemble gave the premiere of Calm Waters in Chicago, Il in May 2022. Frissons was premiered by ~Nois on a concert devoted to new music for saxophone quartet in June 2019. The London Sylvan Ensemble gave the premiere of Evolutions for double wind quintet in May 2019 at St. James Piccadilly in London, England. Brown Line, a scherzo sort of was premiered by the Chicago Composers Orchestra in January 2018. The renowned woodwind group Quintet Attacca premiered by Fits and Starts in October 2016. Two of Mr. Axelrod’s Brandenburg Fantasias were premiered by the Chicago Composers Orchestra in November 2014. His music has been included twice in the Sound of Silent Film project, presented by Access Contemporary Music both in Chicago and in New York’s Symphony Space. Pos Metaphonos, a concerto for Bass Clarinet and orchestra was premiered by the Chicago Composers Orchestra with Lawrie Bloom of the Chicago Symphony as soloist in January of 2013. His solo piano work Common Threads was included in AIDS Quilt Songbook @20 concert in December of 2012 in the Great Hall at Cooper Union in New York City. In the dual capacities of pianist and composer, Mr. Axelrod did a tour of New Zealand in February and March of 2019, playing three recitals of works by Crumb, Janacek, Lincoln-Dicusatis, Holloway, De Castro-Robinson, Steen and the premiere of his own Journey/Dream. He performed all-Mazurka programs for several seasons combining classic and newly-composed compositions in this form. Two of these concerts were in South Africa of in May 2008 - one in Johannesburg and one in Cape Town. Other versions of these programs took place at the University of Wisconsin/Madison in March 2008, Butler University (Indianapolis, IN) in November 2007 and as part of the Fazioli Salon Series on WFMT in April 2007. He also opened the Swedish Electroacoustic Music Society’s conference with a recital in Stockholm in May 2007, repeating the program in Lahr, Germany a few days later. He was guest composer at the Vielsaitig Festival in Füssen, Germany in August, 2004, where the Verdi String Quartet premiered his String Quartet No. 1, and his music was also presented on a portrait concert. Mr. Axelrod’s compositions have been performed on composers’ festival concerts around the United States. He was invited to perform a piano recital as part of the Eighth International Festival of Electroacoustic Music held in Havana, Cuba in March 2000, and returned there in March 2004 to give a second recital. His work for orchestra and tape, Cassandra Speaks, was premiered by the San Jose Symphony (CA) in June of 1999 with music director Leonid Grin conducting. This work was previously recorded by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Szymon Kawalla conducting. Still Life with Sea and Whales, a work for soprano, flute and two guitars has been released on the CRS label. A CD of solo and small chamber works was released in the Fall of 2003. A CD featuring Mr. Axelrod’s Six Brandenburg Fantasias, compositions using the instrumentation from Bach’s famous works, was released in October 2013 on the Innova label, garnering significant attention, and was considered for Grammy nomination. His newest CD, 5 x 4, a compilation of various types of quartets, was released in April 2023. A generous and positive review in Gramophone Magazine appeared shortly after.
The Heart Revived, a recording featuring works for soloists and chamber orchestra and solo piano, was released in August 2016, garnering an excellent review and critic’s choice in Opera News.
Mr. Axelrod has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council, Chorus America, Meet the Composer and Arts International for the performances of his works. He participated in the exciting and challenging Composing in the Wilderness program in Alaska in the summer of 2018, resulting in performances of a new work in Denali National Park and as part of the Fairbanks (AK) Summer Arts Festival.
Mr. Axelrod is a founder and is past president of the Chicago Composers’ Consortium. and was a member of CUBE Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. He was organizer and creator of Opera Adventures, highly successful educational appreciation trips in Santa Fe (NM) each summer and different European destinations each spring. His teaching experience also includes Music Theory at Columbia College (Chicago, IL), and classes for young people. Lawrence Axelrod received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College (1981) and a Master of Music Degree in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University (1982). He currently resides in Lisbon, Portugal.