Artistic Staff
Rossen Milanov, Music Director
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 Music Director of Symphony in C (formerly The Haddonfield Symphony), 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 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 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 the Seattle Symphony, the Royal Scottish Philharmonic, and the Australian Youth Symphony. 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.
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. 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.
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Petko Dimitrov, Assistant Conductor: Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair
Dimitrov made his debut as a conductor with The New Symphony Orchestra, Sofia, Bulgaria, in May 1998, performing a concert of British music by Sir Michael Tippet and Henry Purcell, in collaboration with The British Council. Since then he has been an Assistant Conductor and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra and has performed subscription concerts, as well as commissions regularly. He has also been active as a Conductor of a Chamber Ensemble of The New Symphony Orchestra.
Since 2001 Dimitrov has been studying and working in the United States. In 2004 he completed his Masters Degree in Orchestra Conducting at the University of Michigan, under the direction of Kenneth Kiesler. In 2006 Dimitrov finished his studies with Gustav Meier at the Peabody Conservatory, pursuing a Graduate Performance Diploma in Orchestral Conducting. As Assistant Conductor for the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Dimitrov was called upon to conduct Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.
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Daniel Dorff, Composer-in-Residence
Dorff’s works have also been performed by the Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Detroit Symphonies to name a few. Other commissions have come from the Colorado Symphony’s Up Close and Musical series, Sacramento Symphony, Young Audiences, American Composers Forum, Ithaca College School of Music, Symphony in C (formerly Haddonfield Symphony) and other organizations. Dorff has also created arrangements for Sir James Galway and for pop musicians Keith Emerson and Lisa Loeb.
Daniel Dorff was born in New Rochelle, NY in 1956; acclaim came early with First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival’s annual composers’ competition at age 18 for his Fantasy, Scherzo and Nocturne for saxophone quartet. Dorff received degrees in composition from Cornell and University of Pennsylvania; his teachers included George Crumb, George Rochberg, Karel Husa, Henry Brant, Ralph Shapey, Elie Siegmeister, and Richard Wernick.Symphony in C has recorded an all-Dorff CD to be released on Bridge Records in late 2007, featuring Ann Crumb and Ukee Washington as narrators, conducted by Rossen Milanov.
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