Rossen Milanov, Associate Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra and Artistic Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts

Rossen Milanov

2007-2008 Season

A sought-after guest conductor on the international music scene, Rossen Milanov has been hailed as “one who bears watching by anyone who cares about the future of music” (Chicago Tribune).  He currently holds the positions of associate conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra and artistic director of The Philadelphia Orchestra at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts.  In addition, Mr. Milanov serves as music director of New Jersey’s Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony), one of America’s premier professional training orchestras; music director of the New Symphony Orchestra in his native city of Sofia, Bulgaria; and chief conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony.

Mr. Milanov began his association with The Philadelphia Orchestra as assistant conductor in 2000 and was promoted to associate conductor four years later.  In this role, he leads the Orchestra in subscription, family, educational, community, and holiday concerts.  In March 2006, Mr. Milanov was named artistic director of the Orchestra’s summer series at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts.  In July 2007, he led the Orchestra in two performances during its first residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Vail, Colorado. 

During the 2007-08 season, Mr. Milanov debuts with Tokyo’s NHK Symphony, London’s BBC Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, and the Royal Scottish Philharmonic.  He has return engagements with the Indianapolis Symphony, the Slovenian National Radio Orchestra, and the Curtis Opera Theatre.  In addition, he leads the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in a new double bill production of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring and Petrushka with the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève.  Mr. Milanov also conducts the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra in a European tour.  The tour stops in Munich, Dortmund, Valladolid, and at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and features acclaimed Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova. 

With The Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Milanov’s recent concert highlights have included critically acclaimed concerts on the Orchestra’s summer series at the Mann Center; subscription performances of Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Elgar’s “Enigma” Variations; Adams’s Violin Concerto and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15; a highly-praised production of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale; and the world premiere of Nicholas Maw’s English Horn Concerto. 

Mr. Milanov has led concerts and tours with the Aspen Festival, the Auckland Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Colorado Symphony, the Curtis Opera Theatre, the Duluth-Superior Symphony, the Festival Orchestra of the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Honolulu Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Juilliard Opera Center, the Lucerne Symphony, the National Orchestra of Colombia, the National Orchestra of Mexico, the New World Symphony, the Omaha Symphony, the Residentie Orchestra of the Hague in the Netherlands, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Slovenia National Radio and Television Orchestra, the Syracuse Symphony, the Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, and the Virginia Symphony.  He was music director of the Chicago Youth Symphony from 1997 to 2001, and he has participated in numerous summer festivals, including Tanglewood and the Interlochen Arts Festival.  His recording of works by the Russian composer Alla Pavlova with the Moscow Philharmonic is available on the Naxos label. 

Mr. Milanov retains a close association with his native city of Sofia in Bulgaria.  As music director of the New Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Europe’s first privately funded orchestra, his work has included commissions and premieres of new works, the introduction of American music to Bulgarian audiences, Musorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death with the legendary Bulgarian bass Nikolai Ghiaurov, and several recordings.  In the 2005-06 season, Mr. Milanov led a tribute to Shostakovich, honoring the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth.  Currently he is in the midst of leading a multi-year Mahler cycle with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony.  Mr. Milanov has received the Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Bulgarian Culture, awarded by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture.  In 2005 he was chosen as Bulgaria’s Musician of the Year. 

Mr. Milanov studied conducting at the Juilliard School (recipient of the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship), the Curtis Institute of Music, Duquesne University, and the Bulgarian National Academy of Music. 

 

Charles Dutoit, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Charles Dutoit

2007-2008 Season

Since his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1980, Charles Dutoit has been invited each season to conduct all the major orchestras of the United States, including those of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. He has also performed regularly with all the great orchestras of Europe, including the Berlin Philharmonic and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw Orchestra, as well as the Israel Philharmonic and the major orchestras of Japan, South America, and Australia. Mr. Dutoit has recorded extensively for Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI, Philips, CBS, Erato, and other labels with American, European, and Japanese orchestras. His more than 170 recordings, half of them with the Montreal Symphony, have garnered more than 40 awards and distinctions. 

Mr. Dutoit will become chief conductor and artistic adviser of The Philadelphia in September 2008. Since 1990 he has been artistic director and principal conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s summer festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Between 1990 and 1999, he also directed the Orchestra’s summer series at the Mann Center, and led them in a series of distinctive recordings. From 1991 to 2001, he was music director of the Orchestre National de France, with which he made a number of recordings and toured extensively. In 1996 he was appointed principal conductor, and in 1998 music director, of the NHK Symphony in Tokyo.  For 25 years (1977 to 2002), Mr. Dutoit was artistic director of the Montreal Symphony.

When still in his early 20s, Mr. Dutoit was invited by Herbert von Karajan to lead the Vienna State Opera. Mr. Dutoit has since conducted regularly at Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. He also led productions at the Los Angeles Music Center Opera and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

In 1988 the government of France made Mr. Dutoit an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 1996 he was promoted to Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 1991 he was made an Honorary Citizen of the City of Philadelphia. In 1995 the government of Québec named him Grand Officier de l’Ordre National du Québec. He has also been awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal as well as the Diploma of Honor by the Canadian Conference of the Arts. In 1998 he was invested as Honorary Officer of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest award of merit. Mr. Dutoit was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, and his musical training took him to Geneva, Siena, Venice, and Tanglewood, where he worked with Charles Munch.

A globetrotter motivated by his passion for history and archaeology, political science, art, and architecture, Mr. Dutoit has traveled and visited so far 172 countries. He maintains residences in Switzerland, Paris, Montreal, Buenos Aires and Tokyo.