The Philadelphia Orchestra and PIFA Participating Artist Biographies (By Date) April 7 to 30, 2011 Pulcinella Alive ––– April 7, 8, 9, and 10, 2011 Rossen Milanov, Associate Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra Rossen Milanov currently holds the position of associate conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra; in July 2010 he concluded his tenure as artistic director of The Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center. He was also recently appointed music director of the Princeton Symphony. A committed supporter of youth and music, Mr. Milanov is music director of both the New Symphony Orchestra, a privately-funded youth orchestra in his native city of Sofia, and Symphony in C, one of America’s leading professional training orchestras. He regularly conducts opera productions at the Curtis Institute of Music and appears each season at Carnegie Hall for LinkUP!, a program of the Weill Music Institute. He has led tours with the Australian Youth Orchestra, the New Zealand Youth Orchestra, conducted the Aspen Chamber Symphony, and was music director of the Chicago Youth Symphony from 1997 to 2001. With The Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr. Milanov’s recent highlights have included the release of A Grand Celebration: The Philadelphia Orchestra Live with the Wanamaker Organ at Macy’s Center City, his first recording with the Orchestra, and critically-acclaimed concerts at the Kimmel Center, the Mann Center, and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. In the 2010-11 season—in addition to conducting The Philadelphia Orchestra in subscription, Family, and community concerts, as well as the opening week of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts featuring a newly choreographed version of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with Pennsylvania Ballet and Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat —Mr. Milanov makes his debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, his Spanish debut with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, and his European operatic debut conducting Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Komische Oper Berlin; he also returns to the Royal Swedish Opera. In recent seasons he has worked with the National, Baltimore, New Jersey, Seattle, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, BBC, Singapore, and NHK symphonies; the Rochester, Rotterdam, China, and Seoul philharmonics; the Scottish Chamber and Royal Scottish National orchestras; and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, among others. Mr. Milanov studied conducting at the Juilliard School (where he received the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship), the Curtis Institute of Music, Duquesne University, and the Bulgarian National Academy of Music. He has received the Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Bulgarian Culture, awarded by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, and in 2005 was chosen as Bulgaria’s Musician of the Year. Isabel Leonard, Mezzo-soprano Engagements for mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in the 2010-11 season include the roles of Dorabella in Mozart’s Così fan tutte at the Metropolitan Opera, Sesto in Handel’s Julius Cesaer and Cherubino in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro at the Opéra National de Paris, and Vivaldi’s Griselda at Santa Fe Opera. She also appears in concerts with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Leonard will open her 2011-12 season as Rosina in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at the Metropolitan Opera. The Philadelphia Orchestra and PIFA – Participating Artist Biographies Page 2 A graduate of the Juilliard School, Ms. Leonard is a recipient of the Richard Gold Award of the Shoshana Foundation, a Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Award, the William Schuman Graduation Prize of the Juilliard School, the Makiko Narumi Prize of the Juilliard School, and the Marilyn Horne Foundation Award of the Music Academy of the West; she was also a winner of the Giulio Gari Competition. Ms. Leonard is a native New Yorker and received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at the Juilliard School. She studies with Edith Bers and has also studied with Marilyn Horne, Brian Zeger, Warren Jones, Margo Garrett, Denise Massé, and Janine Reiss. Tonight’s performance marks Ms. Leonard’s Philadelphia Orchestra debut. Nicholas Phan, Tenor American tenor Nicholas Phan recently made debuts at the BBC Proms and the Bard Music Festival and his recital debut at Carnegie Hall. This season he returns to the Music of Baroque, the San Francisco Symphony for Bach’s Mass in B minor and Orff’s Carmina burana, and to Carnegie Hall for Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Oratorio Society of New York. Mr. Phan makes his debut this season with Seattle Opera as Count Almaviva in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville and also goes on tour with Alan Curtis and Il Complesso Barocco for performances of Handel’s Ariodante. Mr. Phan’s recording of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony was recently released on the CSO Resound label. His world-premiere recording of Evan Chambers’s orchestral song cycle The Old Burying Ground was released in 2010. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Mr. Phan also studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the Aspen Music Festival and School, and he is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and the Glimmerglass Opera Young American Artists Program. He was the recipient of a 2006 Sullivan Foundation Award and a 2004 Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation. He makes his Philadelphia Orchestra debut with this performance. Shenyang, Bass-Baritone Bass-baritone Shenyang was the winner of the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, a 2008 winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, a first-prize winner at the International Opera Competition in Verona, and a 2010 winner of the Montblanc New Voices at Stars of the White Nights Festival. Born in Tianjin, China, Shenyang studied with Ping Gu at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and the Julliard School Opera Center. Shenyang is heard this season on an international tour with Edo de Waart and the Hong Kong Philharmonic in performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and excerpts from Mahler’s Des knaben Wunderhorn, as well as in performances of Handel’s Messiah with Helmuth Rilling and the Dallas Symphony. He joins the San Francisco Symphony for Bach’s Mass in B minor and the Cincinnati Symphony for Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and he appears at Carnegie Hall in a concert performance of Mozart’s Zaïde with Ensemble ACJW conducted by David Robertson. Shenyang also returns to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera as Colline in Puccini’s La bohème. Shenyang has recorded Schubert's Winterreise on FengLin Records. Tonight’s performance marks his Philadelphia Orchestra debut. Jorma Elo, Choreographer Finnish-born Jorma Elo is one of the most sought-after choreographers in the world. He was named resident choreographer of Boston Ballet in 2005 and has since created numerous works in the US and internationally, including Slice to Sharp for New York City Ballet, Glow-Stop and C. to C. (Close to Chuck) for American Ballet Theatre, Double Evil for San Francisco Ballet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Vienna State Opera Ballet, Pur ti Miro for National Ballet of Canada, 10 to Hyper M for Royal Danish Ballet, Offcore for Finnish National Ballet, and From all Sides for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. The Philadelphia Orchestra and PIFA – Participating Artist Biographies Page 3 Mr. Elo trained with the Finnish National Ballet School and the Kirov Ballet School in Leningrad. Prior to joining Netherlands Dance Theater in 1990 he danced with Finnish National Ballet from 1978 through 1984 and Cullberg Ballet from 1984 to 1990. For Boston Ballet Mr. Elo has created six world premieres: Sharp Side of Dark, Plan to B, Carmen, Brake the Eyes, In on Blue, and Le Sacre du printemps. He has received commissions from Netherlands Dance Theatre 1, Basel Ballet, Houston Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Stockholm 59° North, Alberta Ballet, Staatstheater Nurnberg, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, and BalletX. He is also a designer of costumes, lighting, and video effects for his ballets. Martha Chamberlain, Dancer Principal dancer and costume designer Martha Chamberlain began her dance training at age five at the Fellowship House in Media, PA, where she was born and raised. She went on to study with Donna Muzio, Paul Klocke, and Cherie Noble at West Chester’s Dance Center and the School of American Ballet’s Summer Program. A graduate of the School of Pennsylvania Ballet, Ms. Chamberlain joined Pennsylvania Ballet as an apprentice in 1989 and was promoted to the corps de ballet three months later. She became a soloist in 1997 and a principal in 2000. Ms. Chamberlain has danced leading roles in The Taming of the Shrew, The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Giselle, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She has also had featured roles in Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina, The Four Temperaments, Agon, Western Symphony, Serenade, Apollo, and Jewels; Paul Taylor’s Company B and Arden Court; and Christopher d’Amboise’s Franklin Court. She has created roles for such choreographers as Trey McIntryre, Kevin O’Day, Jessica Lang, Jeffrey Gribler, and Matthew Neenan. Ms. Chamberlain began designing costumes for Christopher d’Amboise in the early 1990s, and since then she has since designed for Matthew Neenan, Jorma Elo, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Helen Pickett, Zane Booker, Meredith Rainey, Christine Cox, and Edwaard Liang. Francis Veyette, Dancer A California native, soloist Francis Veyette began his dance training at age 10 at Dance Arts in Visalia, CA. He also studied at Westside Ballet in Santa Monica and took summer sessions at the School of American Ballet and the Rock School for Dance Education. He began as an apprentice with Pennsylvania Ballet in 1997 and was promoted to the corps de ballet in 1999.