Rossen Milanov
Conductor
Bio
In 2017, the Mr. Milanov was recipient of an Arts Prize by The Columbus Foundation for presenting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as part of Symphony’s 2017 Picnic with the Pops summer series.
In Columbus, the 2017/18 season will focus on two principal themes: Nature and Women’s Creativity. Both of these themes build on ideas of connecting music with community-wide initiatives. Mr. Milanov will be presenting two festivals dedicated to Russian music; a concert production of Aida, in a collaboration with Opera Columbus and the Columbus Zoo; and a Spanish Flamenco Festival. Among the guest artists will be violinists Joshua Bell, pianist Inon Barnatan, and Pulitzer prize winning composer Caroline Shaw.
In Princeton, he is continuing a tradition of sophisticated programming and this season he will be collaborating with the Westminster Choir and creative artists such as Simone Dinnerstein, Joshua Roman, and Ilya Keller; as well as commissioning new music by Phillip Glass and Saad Haddad.
In Spain, the season’s highlights include performances of Bruckner’s Ninth, the orchestral music of Hindemith, world premieres of newly commissioned works, and expansion of the orchestra’s education and community outreach programs.
Mr. Milanov has established himself as a conductor with considerable national and international presence. He has appeared with the Colorado, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Seattle, Fort Worth, Symphonies, and; National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Link Up education projects with Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Civic Orchestra in Chicago.
Internationally he has collaborated with BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra de la Suisse Romand, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Aalborg, Latvian and Hungarian National Symphony Orchestras. The orchestras in Toronto, Vancouver, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic in South Africa, Mexico, Colombia, Sao Paolo, Belo Horizonte and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, In the Far East he has appeared with NHK, Sapporo, Tokyo, Singapore Symphonies, Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Malaysian and Hong Kong Philharmonics.
Mr. Milanov has collaborated with some of the world’s preeminent artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Midori, Christian Tetzlaff, and André Watts. During his eleven-year tenure with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Milanov conducted more than 200 performances. In 2015, he completed 15-years tenure as Music Director of the nationally recognized training orchestra Symphony in C in New Jersey and in 2013 a 17-years tenure with the New Symphony Orchestra in his native city of Sofia, Bulgaria. His passion for new music has resulted in numerous world premieres of works by composers such as Derek Bermel, Richard Danielpour, Nicolas Maw, and Gabriel Prokofiev, among others.
Noted for his versatility, Milanov is also a welcomed presence in the worlds of opera and ballet. Most recently he collaborated with Komische Oper Berlin (Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk), Opera Oviedo with the Spanish premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Mazzepa and Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle (awarded best Spanish production for 2015), Opera Columbus (Verdi’s La Traviata).
An experienced ballet conductor he has been seen at New York City Ballet and collaborated with some of the best known choreographers of our time such Mats Ek, Benjamin Millepied, and most recently Alexei Ratmansky in the critically acclaimed revival of Swan Lake in Zurich with Zurich Ballet and in Paris with La Scala Ballet.
Rossen Milanov studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, where he received the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship.
A passionate chef, he often dedicates his culinary talents to various charities.
