On May 11, 2026, The Juilliard School officially announced: Jacky Liu has won the 2025–26 COMPOSERS' AXIOM COMPETITION with his new work As If Joy (Xiying). The school has formally commissioned Liu to compose a new chamber symphony, scheduled for its world premiere in the spring of 2027 at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center in New York. 

This commission marks Liu’s fourth appearance on the stage of Lincoln Center, following his First Symphony Traversing (2024), Second Symphony Ephemeral Echoes (2026), and the string quartet Oh Heart! I will Forget Him! (2024). His new work, titled As If Joy, continues his signature mastery of delicate timbral shading and dramatic structural tension, generating great anticipation for the chamber symphony he will present next year. 

The 2025–26 COMPOSERS' AXIOM COMPETITION is yet another major composition prize won by Liu within the Juilliard system. Previously, he had twice won the Juilliard Orchestra Composition Competition (2024, 2026) and received the highest honor, the Arthur Friedman Prize. He also won 2023 Juilliard Gena Raps Chamber Music Composition Competition, which came with a commissioning opportunity at Lincoln Center.

Juilliard's new music ensemble AXIOM, led by music director Jeffrey Milarsky, is dedicated to performing masterworks of the 20th- and 21st-century repertoire. Since its debut in Avery Fisher Hall (now David Geffen Hall) in 2006, the group has established itself as a leading ensemble in New York City’s contemporary music scene with performances throughout Lincoln Center, in addition to frequent appearances at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre and (Le) Poisson Rouge in Greenwich Village.