[9] Axelrod graduated cum laude in 1984 from St. John's School and went on to Harvard University, where he completed a bachelor's degree in music in 1988.
In April, 2009 Axelrod was elected as music director of the l'Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (ONPL), based in Nantes and Angers, France.
[2][16] In July, 2017, Axelrod was elected CEO (Consejero Delegado) in addition to his Artistic and musical director duties of the Royal Symphony Orchestra of Seville.
From 2009 to 2011, Axelrod was the music director of the annual red carpet broadcast event in the Konzerthaus Vienna Hollywood in Vienna with the ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Viena, performing film music by such composers as John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, Howard Shore, Alan Silverstri, Max Steiner, Erich Woflgang Korngold and many more.
In 2017, Axelrod made history walking down the steps dressed as Darth Vader at Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, performing Star Wars by John Williams.
In 2012, Axelrod, as music director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, recorded with French Mezzo Soprano Véronique Gens works by Berlioz and Ravel, for Ondine.
With this orchestra, he also recorded with Swiss violinist Rachel Kolly d'Alba works by Chausson and Ravel for Warner Classics, released in 2011.
[23] In 2011, Axelrod achieved critical acclaim for his Salzburg Festival debut with percussionist Martin Grubinger in a reprise of the marathon Concert they performed in 2006 in Vienna's Musikverein.
Axelrod has premiered many new works by such composers as Wolfgang Rihm (Sotte Voce II),[29] Kaija Saariaho (Nymphea Reflection),[30] Gabriel Prokoviev (Remix of Beethoven's 9th for electronica and Orchestra),[31] Fazıl Say (1001 Nights in a Harem),[32] Marco Stroppa (Rittratti Senza Volto), Michael Gordon (Grey, Pink, Yellow),[33] Karim al-Zand (7th Voyage of Sindbad),[34] Anthony K. Brandt (Express),[35] and Wojciech Kilar (September Symphony).
[36] Axelrod's opera activity includes the premiere performances of Bernstein's Candide (directed by Robert Carsen) at Paris's Théâtre du Châtelet and Milano's Teatro alla Scala and the new production of Krenek's Kehraus um St. Stephan at the Bregenzer Festspiele.
[38][39] "Brahms Beloved", Brahms Symphony cycle performed by LaVerdi with Clara Schumann lieder, featuring Axelrod on piano and vocalists Indra Thomas, Nicole Cabell, Wolfgang Holzmair and Dame Felicity Lott (released in 2013 on Telarc International), "French Impressions" : works for violin and Orchestra, Rachel Kolly d'Alba, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire by Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Chausson, Eugène Ysaÿe (released 2011 on Warner Classics), "American Serenade" : works for violin and Orchestra by Bernstein, Gershwin, Waxman, with Rachel Kolly d'Alba John Axelrod (released 2012 on Warner Classics), Berlioz and Ravel with Veronique Gens released in 2011 on Ondine; Gorecki Symphony 3 with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and soprano Isabel Baryakdarian on Sony Classics, Wolfgang Rihm's newly commissioned piano concerto "Sotto Voce II" (together with Sotto Voce I) with pianist Nicolas Hodges and the Luzerner Sinfonie Orchester on the Kairos Label; Fazıl Say's new violin concerto "1001 Nights in a Harem" with Patricia Kopatchinskaya and the Luzerner Sinfonie Orchester on Naive; 2 discs featuring works by Franz Schreker and his students Ernst Krenek and Julius Burger, and a live recording from the 2006 Lucerne Festival of Bernstein's "Third Symphony" ('Kaddish'), Schoenberg's "Survivor from Warsaw", and Weill's "Berliner Requiem", all with the Luzerner Sinfonie Orchester for the Nimbus label; Dvořák's Ninth Symphony with the Württemburgischer Philharmonie Reutlingen for the Genuin label; Works by Wladyslaw Szpilman with the Berlin Radio Orchestra for SonyClassical; and Rolf Wallin's percussion concerto "Das war schön!"
[40] Recent DVDs include: the 2007 Emmy Award-winning BBC Holocaust: A Musical Memorial,[41] for which Axelrod and Sinfoneitta Cracovia were the first orchestra to perform on the grounds of Auschwitz since its liberation; the 2008 ARTE production of Die Nacht, featuring Symphonie Fantastique and Sinfonietta Cracovia, and the 2008 Bregenzer Festpiele production of Krenek's opera, Kerhaus um St. Stephan.
After "Spiegel Online" declared the success of this book,[43] Naxos ebooks published in 2013 the original English version "The Symphony Orchestra in Crisis: A Conductor's View.
[46] The book, a guide for investing in rare instruments, was published in 2022 in the Italian Version, by Edizione Curci, entitled: "Suono Ricco: Musica e mercato del lusso: investire in strumenti rari."