From NYTimes.com:
Axiom (Friday) Juilliard’s superb new music group opens its season with a heavyweight program led by Jeffrey Milarsky. John Adams’s “Son of Chamber Symphony” and Olivier Messiaen’s catalog of birdsong, “Oiseaux Exotiques,” surround Harrison Birtwistle’s songs based on poetry by the Holocaust survivor Paul Celan, “3 Settings of Celan,” which will be sung by the soprano Lara Secord-Haid. At 8 p.m., Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Lincoln Center, 155 West 65th Street, 212-769-7406, lincolncenter.org; free, with tickets available only online. (David Allen)
Composer Portraits: Chaya Czernowin (Thursday) This Israeli composer is the latest focus of Miller Theater’s innovative Composer Portraits series. There are two premieres in this concert, including one specifically for the Miller, given by the International Contemporary Ensemble, the conductor Steven Schick and the singers Kai Wessel and Jeffrey Gavett. Other works include the premiere of “Winter Songs V: Forgotten Light,” the latest installment of a continuing cycle, and two other “Winter Songs.” At 8 p.m., Miller Theater, Broadway at 116th Street, Morningside Heights, 212-854-7799, millertheatre.com; $30; $25 for 65+; $18 for those under 25 and students. (Allen)
White Light Festival (Tuesday through Thursday) This innovative festival, which explores themes of spirituality, continues with a performance on Tuesday by the a cappella octet Roomful of Teeth. The genre-blending ensemble will perform Caroline Shaw’s beautiful, fascinating “Partita for 8 Voices” and a new piece by the indie-folk artist Sam Amidon. Wednesday and Thursday’s lineup features the United States premiere of “How Like an Angel” — a seemingly unlikely combination of avant-garde acrobats and the early-music choir I Fagiolini, which will perform excerpts from the Renaissance, South African gospel and other sources. Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., Clark Studio Theater, Lincoln Center, 165 West 65th Street; limited ticket availability. Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., James Memorial Chapel, Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway, at West 121st Street, whitelightfestival.org; limited ticket availability. (Schweitzer)
White Light Festival: ‘The Rite of Spring’ (Friday and Saturday) This innovative festival, which explores themes of spirituality, continues on Friday with the puppeteer Basil Twist’s imaginative take on Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” performed by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 212-721-6500, whitelightfestival.org; $25 to $100. (Schweitzer)
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