Rossen Milanov, artistic director of The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center, leads five of the nine concerts, with the remaining four led by guest conductors.

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s 2008 series at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts opens June 30 with a night of popular favorites featuring superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who performs Saint- Saens’s Cello Concerto No. 1. Rossen Milanov conducts a concert version of Puccini’s beloved opera La boheme (July 1), an all-Mozart evening (July 2), Jennifer Koh in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto (July 23), and an encore performance of Carmina buran a to close the summer season (July 24).

The season also includes guest conductor Bramwell Tovey leading the Orchestra in Berlioz’s passionate Symphonie fantastique on a program that also includes Orion Weiss performing Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto (July 17), and Leila Josefowicz performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, under the baton of Giancarlo Guerrero (July 18). The final week of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Mann series features Philadelphia favorite Thomas Wilkins leading Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (July 21) and the annual tradition of an all-Tchaikovsky concert with fireworks led by Andrew Grams (July 22), in addition to the two concerts conducted by Mr. Milanov.

“I always look forward to bringing the music of our great Philadelphia Orchestra to summer audiences at the Mann Center,” says Rossen Milanov, artistic director of The Philadelphia Orchestra at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts. “Our season includes many of the works that made so many people fall in love with classical music in the first place. We are also fortunate to feature the talents of some of the world’s most gifted guest soloists as well as the youthful energy of many up-and-coming artists. All of this contributes to summer evening experiences that are incomparable in the region.” Picnic Competitions, a longstanding Philadelphia Orchestra tradition at the Mann, return once again this summer. Audience members are invited to vie for the best picnic feast based on a pre-selected theme. Picnic Competitions will be held on the following three concerts: Tuesday, July 2, “Celestial Celebration”; Friday, July 18, “Pretty as a Picture”; and Thursday, July 24, “Wheel of Fortuna.”

The Philadelphia Orchestra at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts

The Philadelphia Orchestra began performing concerts in Fairmount Park at the Robin Hood Dell in 1930 in a band shell on the east side of the Schuylkill, and continued performing there until 1976 when The Mann Center for the Performing Arts opened on the west side of the Schuylkill, which became the home of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s summer series. Now celebrating its 33rd season, The Mann Center for the Performing Arts is the region’s premier outdoor cultural arts center offering a diverse season of world-class entertainment. Its recently completed $15-million capital campaign has resulted in venue upgrades that have increased convenience and accessibility, and enhanced the attractiveness of the grounds for concert-goers. In addition to The Philadelphia Orchestra’s summer series, programming at the Mann includes Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, PECO Pops, Arts in the Park, jazz, dance, rock, and classical and contemporary concerts. Community and education outreach is provided through the Young People’s Concert Series, Connecting-Arts-N-Schools presentations in public and parochial schools, master classes with visiting artists, and complimentary ticket distribution to more than 30,000 of the region’s underserved children via the Access the Arts Program.

Rossen Milanov

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 the 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 the NHK, BBC, and Seattle symphonies, and the Royal Scottish Philharmonic, and 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 Theatre de Geneve. 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 highlights have included critically acclaimed concerts on the Orchestra’s summer series at the Mann Center; subscription performances of Adams’s Violin Concerto and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15; and the world premiere of Maw’s English Horn Concerto.

Mr. Milanov has led concerts and tours with the Aspen Festival; the Auckland, Rotterdam, and Seoul philharmonics; the Baltimore, Colorado, Duluth-Superior, Honolulu, Lucerne, New World, Omaha, Syracuse, and Virginia symphonies; the Saint Paul and Cincinnati chamber orchestras; the Civic Orchestra of Chicago; the Festival Orchestra of the Grand Teton Music Festival; the Curtis Opera Theatre; the national orchestras of Colombia and Mexico; the Residentie Orchestra of the Hague; and the Teatro Colon Buenos Aires. He was music director of the Chicago Youth Symphony from 1997 to 2001, and he has participated in numerous summer festivals, including Tanglewood and Interlochen. 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, and several recordings. 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. -- www.philorch.org