Princeton Symphony Orchestra to Celebrate Maestro's 60th Birthday At January Concerts

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 and 12. 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.

“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.”

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 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. 

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 7pm.

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.

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