A much sought-after guest conductor on the international music scene, Rossen Milanov has been recognized as “one of the most-promising figures in the upcoming generation of conductors” (Seattle Times.) He recently completed an eleven-year tenure as Associate Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Artistic Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Beginning in 2012/13 season, Mr. Milanov is the newly appointed Principal Conductor of Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Spain. Currently also Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Milanov has collaborated with some of the world’s most prestigious soloists, including Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, Midori, Itzhak Perlman and André Watts, among others.
A well-known figure in North America, Rossen Milanov has appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Rochester Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New Jersey, San Antonio and Seattle. Festival appearances include Aspen and Breckenridge, as well as numerous appearances with The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival, Mann Center and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
During the 2011-12 season, Rossen Milanov will make debuts in North America with the symphonies of Chautauqua, Columbus, Fort Worth, Jacksonville, Louisville, Memphis, Oregon, Pasadena, Quebec and Vancouver. Worldwide debuts include the symphonies of Aalborg (Denmark), New Zealand, São Paulo and Tokyo. Among his other international appearances are the BBC Symphony, Belgrade Philharmonic, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Komische Oper/Berlin (Lady Macbeth of Mzensk), Lucerne Symphony, National Symphony of Latvia, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orquesta Nacional de México, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Residentie Orkest/The Hague, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. On his regular tours to the Far East, he has appeared with the China Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic and the Singapore Symphony.
A committed supporter of youth and music, Mr. Milanov is Music Director of both the Symphony in C (a professional training orchestra that has graduated and placed many of this country’s top instrumentalists) and the New Symphony Orchestra in his native city of Sofia, Bulgaria. He regularly conducts opera productions at The Curtis Institute of Music and appears each season at Carnegie Hall for LinkUP!, a program supported and promoted by The Weill Music Institute. He has led tours with the Australian Youth Orchestra, the New Zealand Youth Orchestra and was Music Director of the Chicago Youth Symphony from 1997 to 2001.
Mr. Milanov’s first commercial recording with The Philadelphia Orchestra, A Grand Celebration: The Philadelphia Orchestra Live with the Wanamaker Organ at Macy’s Center City, has recently been released. His live recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15 and Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 with The Philadelphia Orchestra is available through Philadelphia Online. Other recordings include works of Russian composer Alla Pavlova with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra for Naxos, and Argento’s opera Postcard from Morocco with The Curtis Opera Theatre for Albany Records.
Rossen Milanov studied conducting at The Juilliard School (where he received the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship), the Curtis Institute of Music, Duquesne University and the Bulgarian National Academy of Music. Former Chief Conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra, Mr. Milanov is a recipient of the Bulgarian Ministry’s Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Bulgarian Culture and an ASCAP award in 2009 for his programing with Princeton Symphony Orchestra. In 2005, he was chosen as Bulgaria’s Musician of the Year.