Rossen Milanov, photo by PSO staff
(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The centerpiece of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra's (PSO's) 2024-25 season is the upcoming celebration of Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov's 60th birthday at concerts held at Richardson Auditorium on January 11-12, 2025.
Designated as the season's Edward T. Cone Concert, Rossen's 60th Birthday Celebration program consists of Igor Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with Leila Josefowicz as soloist and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s rarely heard Manfred Symphony.
As Edward T. Cone Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Rossen Milanov regularly collaborates with artists of the orchestral world, and helms the PSO’s popular June performing arts celebration – The Princeton Festival. He is also the music director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted operas presented by Komische Oper Berlin and Opera Columbus, as well as the Spanish premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa and Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle with Opera Oviedo (awarded best Spanish production for 2015). He has conducted over 200 concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra and performances with the New York City Ballet, Zurich Ballet, and La Scala Ballet in Paris. He presents education projects with Carnegie Hall and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and leads the PSO’s BRAVO! concerts for school children. He is a 2011 ASCAP award winner and a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.
Leila Josefowicz, photo by Tom Zimberoff
Leila Josefowicz received GRAMMY Award® nominations for her recordings of Scheherazade.2 with St Louis Symphony conducted by David Robertson, and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. Her 2024-25 season includes performances of Luca Francesconi’s Duende – The Dark Notes with New York Philharmonic and Susanna Mälkki, and the British premiere of Helen Grime’s Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo at the Aldeburgh Festival. Further engagements include Minnesota Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, and Houston, San Diego, KBS, Singapore, City of Birmingham, Prague, and BBC symphony orchestras. Josefowicz has released several recordings, notably for Deutsche Grammophon, Philips/Universal and Warner Classics. She won the 2018 Avery Fisher Prize, and was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2008.
“I’m thrilled to collaborate creatively again with my friend, the superb violinist Leila Josefowicz, and I am celebrating my birthday by conducting two works among my favorites in the orchestral repertoire,” says Maestro Milanov. He adds, “I’m Slavic by birth, so when it comes to conducting works by these great composers, I feel deeply connected to the music.”
Stravinsky introduced an unconventional four-note chord in his Violin Concerto, and otherwise innovated the concerto’s form with a clear, four-movement structure, duets of the solo violin with other instruments of the orchestra, and syncopated rhythms in the finale. Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony is a programmatic masterwork inspired by Lord Byron’s poem of the same name, with each of the four movements inspired by the title character’s outward wanderings and inner struggles.
Sunday’s concert includes a 3pm pre-concert talk hosted by Rossen Milanov discussing the works to be performed. The talk is free to ticket holders with general seating in Richardson Auditorium.
In advance of the concert weekend, Rossen Milanov will reflect on his years at the helm of the PSO with his friend and former PSO Executive Director Melanie Clarke at a special PSO Soundtracks presentation, “A Symphony Celebration,” at Princeton Public Library on Tuesday, January 7 at 7:00pm.
Single tickets for Rossen’s 60th Birthday Celebration and other Classical Series concerts start at $40. Cost-saving Pick 3+ ticket packages are also available. Youths 5-17 receive a 50% discount with an adult purchase.
Rossen Milanov, photo by PSO staff
These PSO concerts at Richardson Auditorium will also take place in the new year:
ALL MOZART WITH ORLI SHAHAM
Saturday, February 8, 8:00pm | Sunday, February 9, 4:00pm
Gérard Korsten, conductor Orli Shaham, piano
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
Ballet Music from Idomeneo (excerpts)
Piano Concerto No. 20
Symphony No. 39
BEETHOVEN'S SIXTH & SO PERCUSSION
Saturday, March 8, 8:00pm | Sunday, March 9, 4:00pm
Rossen Milanov, conductor Sō Percussion
Carlos SIMON / Four Black American Dances
Viet CUONG / Re(new)al: Percussion Quartet Concerto
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN / Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral”
RACHMANINOFF WITH NATASHA PAREMSKI
Saturday, May 10, 8:00pm | Sunday, May 11, 4:00pm
Rossen Milanov, conductor Natasha Paremski, piano
Westminster Symphonic Choir
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY / “Hymn of the Cherubim”
Johannes BRAHMS / Schicksalslied
Sergei RACHMANINOFF / Piano Concerto No. 3
The PSO’s new Chamber Series at Trinity Church is also ongoing with these performances:
THE VALENCIA BARYTON PROJECT - Thursday, February 27 at 7:30pm
BLACK OAK ENSEMBLE - Thursday, Marchat 20 at 7:30pm
SIGNUM QUARTET - Thursday, May 1 at 7:30pm
For tickets and information, visit the Princeton Symphony Orchestra website at princetonsymphony.org or call 609-497-0020.
Accessibility - The Princeton Symphony Orchestra is committed to ensuring all programming is accessible for everyone, working with venues such as Richardson Auditorium to provide needed services. Contact Mika Godbole for questions about available services at mgodbole@princetonsymphony.org or (609) 905-0931. Note: some services require at least two weeks’ notice to arrange.
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is a cultural centerpiece of the Princeton community and one of New Jersey’s finest music organizations, a position established through performances of beloved masterworks, innovative music by living composers, and an extensive network of educational programs offered to area students free of charge. Led by Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov, the PSO presents orchestral, pops, and chamber music programs of the highest artistic quality, supported by lectures and related events that supplement the concert experience. Its flagship summer program the Princeton Festival brings an array of performing arts and artists to Princeton during multiple weeks in June. Through PSO BRAVO!, the orchestra produces wide-reaching and impactful education programs in partnership with local schools and arts organizations that culminate in students attending a live orchestral performance. The PSO receives considerable support from the Princeton community and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, regularly garnering NJSCA’s highest honor. Recognition of engaging residencies and concerts has come from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the PSO’s commitment to new music has been acknowledged with an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and a Copland Fund Award. The only independent, professional orchestra to make its home in Princeton, the PSO performs at historic Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University.
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