The Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra Marks His 15th Year on the Podium and His 60th Birthday

By Anne Levin | Photos courtesy of Princeton Symphony Orchestra Staff

Eighteen years ago, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra ‘s (PSO) longtime Music Director Mark Laycock announced he was departing following a dispute over his contract. A search committee was quickly put together, and the hunt for a new music director began.

On the committee were I would like to touch it PSO’s then-Executive Director Melanie Clarke, former Westminster Choir College Dean Robert Annis, four musicians, and several members of the PSO Board of Trustees. They gave themselves a year to try out guest conductors who were invited to lead the orchestra on different programs.

Meanwhile, Laycock was scheduled to conduct a concert at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium that April. But a month before the date, he opted out. The PSO needed someone to step up to the podium — in a hurry.

A friend of Clarke’s who was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra suggested that Rossen Milanov, then associate conductor with that esteemed ensemble, might be interested. Although Milanov was not among the 200 people who had applied for the PSO music director position, he agreed to take on the upcoming concert. He spent a week with the musicians before conducting them in a sold-out program of Mozart, Beethoven, and Prokofiev.

It all went well — so well that the search committee asked Milanov to join the list of candidates for the music director position.

Milanov wasn’t sure if he was interested in a full-time gig, but he knew that something special had transpired in Princeton between him, the musicians, and the audience. He agreed to become a candidate, one of five in the final round. When he was offered the job in 2009, he accepted.

Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov and former PSO Executive Director Melanie Clarke looked back at some of their favorite moments together at a PSO Soundtracks event in January, at Princeton Public Library.

Thus began a harmonious, long-term relationship that is being celebrated this season as Milanov marks two milestones: turning 60 and leading the PSO since the 2009-2010 season. Officially known as the PSO’s Edward T. Cone Music Director (Cone was a composer and philanthropist who was on the orchestra’s original board of trustees), Milanov is also the music director of the Columbus Symphony and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and he appears nationally and internationally with several other orchestras.

Looking back on his history in Princeton, he is grateful that he made the decision to take the job.

“It was a very dynamic time in my career,” he says. I was with the Philadelphia Orchestra as associate conductor. I was also music director of the Mann Music Center at that time. Somehow, I thought that coming to Princeton was a lateral move, maybe not the right opportunity at the right time. But this was before I had the opportunity to work with the orchestra and get to know the community.”

Getting Milanov to accept the PSO’s offer took some persuading. Clarke laughs as she recalls acting like a groupie as part of her efforts.

“I went to many of his concerts,” she says. “I would show up at the stage door, bringing him messages from our committee.”

“I knew they were very much interested,” says Milanov. “Melanie was very persistent. She came to Philadelphia several times. I still joke with her about it. She’d say, ‘Look what I found in my trunk!’ and there would be five bottles of wonderful Italian wine, which she knew I would love.”

Though the committee was impressed by other applicants, there was something about Milanov that was different.

“We had a whole slew of conductors come, including [composer] Gunther Schuller,” Clarke says. “Another had just finished a term at the Boston Symphony. We liked several of them very much, but no one had that same gestalt that Rossen did. He is very warm. He has a natural humanity and cultural literacy, which helps musicians understand what he wants to bring out.”

The PSO was founded in 1980 by Portia Sonnenfeld, at the time also the director of the orchestra program at Princeton High School. It was originally a chamber ensemble known as the Little Orchestra of New Jersey. Under Laycock’s 22-year tenure, it grew into a full professional symphony orchestra.

Since Milanov took over, the focus has been on a mix of established, classical masterworks and newer music, frequently by living composers. The orchestra’s activities also include pops concerts, chamber music, educational programs, and partnerships with local cultural organizations. In 2021, the orchestra merged with the Princeton Festival, making the annual summer series held in a tent on the grounds of Morven Museum and Garden an arm of the PSO.

Concertmaster Basia Danilow.

“Programming is important, and Rossen is excellent at programming a variety of styles across the spectrum,” says violinist Basia Danilow, the PSO’s concertmaster. “There is a natural instinct to play Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Brahms — big Romantic things. But he brings some lesser-known materials to audiences and pairs them with classic things. All across the board, the programs are very well-thought-out, with attention to detail.”

A native of Bulgaria, Milanov started his musical education at an early age. While there were no musicians in his family, they recognized that he had talent. He loved to sing. He studied violin and oboe. He also took the advice of some of his teachers and started learning how to read musical scores.

“One teacher would give me LPs to listen to. I’d follow the scores while I listened,” Milanov says. “He’d send me back with another pack of 10 LPs. So I had this incredible opportunity to be mentored by people who understood that this was the most natural way of guiding a child to its path for music.”

After two years of compulsory military service, Milanov resumed his musical studies in Sofia, graduating in 1990 with a combined degree in oboe performance, orchestra conducting, and musical theory. Then, the Iron Curtain fell.

“Everything changed. That entire world we knew, built under a different political system, where everything was provided free of charge, completely disappeared,” he says. “The dilemma for me was of whether to stay there or continue my education elsewhere. That’s how I arrived in the U.S. I was fortunate to get a full scholarship to Duquesne University through a Bulgarian connection there.”

Milanov was presented with an enormous bouquet of roses by PSO Executive Director Mark Uys at the concert celebrating his 60th birthday.

Next came studies at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, and the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Mass. Milanov’s 11-year tenure with the Philadelphia Orchestra included more than 200 performances, and a 17-year association with the New Symphony Orchestra in his native Sofia concluded in 2013.

When Milanov took over the PSO, the orchestra was performing five times a year at Richardson Auditorium, with only one concert each program. The number of performances has since been expanded to two. Concert tickets include informative talks, which many patrons attend.

“The audience in Princeton has always been very stimulating and inspiring for me to program, because this is not your average audience,” says Milanov. “They are incredibly informed about what they are about to hear. It was difficult but easy at the same time. If you want to hear the top 25 pieces of the orchestra repertoire, you can hear them in Philadelphia or New York, by bigger orchestras. But my goal has always been to curate in a boutique way. I like to include something familiar, mixed with something new for the audience. It has been my credo for 15 years.”

Danilow, who shares Milanov’s Slavic heritage, has also worked with him as part of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York. She was on the PSO’s search committee when he was offered the job.

“We did an extensive search, and it was quite an immediate click,” she says. “Rossen’s style of music-making, his ability to evoke what he needs out of an orchestra — he is a very warm, passionate individual who helps people to want to play their best.”

Clarke concurs. “Rossen is very creative in his programming,” she says. “Because he performs internationally and at a very high level, he has relationships with amazing artists. There are conductors guest artists immediately fall into sync with, who raise the bar for them. People find performing with him to be an artistically satisfying experience.”

Milanov is proud of the innovative programs he has curated.

Violinist Leila Josefowicz, a frequent collaborator with Milanov, was the soloist in Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto at the PSO’s January concerts marking the maestro’s 60th birthday.

“We had a season before it became fashionable to do all-women composers. A few years later everybody did it,” he says.

Among the guest artists who have performed with the orchestra are soprano Angel Blue, cellist Pablo Fernandez, and violinist Leila Josefowicz, who appeared on the program celebrating the conductor’s 60th birthday this past January. Acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming is scheduled to open this summer’s Princeton Festival on June 7.

“He has lent a sense of ambition to the orchestra that we could really make a name for us by programming and the kinds of collaborations we would do,” says Clarke. “We’re regional orchestra, yes, but one that is now recognized for its distinctive artistry and programming.”

Milanov returns the compliment.

“I have been professionally at my happiest when I have the opportunity to work with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, now for 15 years,” he says. “It is my dream of what a small, original orchestra could be. And I cherish how important it has been with the connections in the community. It has been great to become of a member of the Princeton circle at large, even though I live in Philadelphia. Princeton seems to be like my second home every time I go there.”

The PSO started 2025 with a weekend of celebrations for Milanov’s birthday. Close friend and collaborator Leila Josefowicz was the violin soloist for Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto. The orchestra also played Tchaikovsky’s rarely performed “Manfred” symphony.