Rossen Milanov says his ultimate reward is seeing young people moving further along and realising their dreams
Over the past few years the NZSO National Youth Orchestra has thrilled us with Mahler and Shostakovich symphonies, and showcased soloists such as John Chen and Madeleine Pierard, with new works by resident composers Robin Toan, Claire Cowan and Natalie Hunt.
Charismatic conductors have ranged from the genial Benjamin Zander to that lithe livewire Yannick Nezet-Seguin, who was on our cinema screens this year conducting the Metropolitan Opera's new Carmen.
Next Saturday Rossen Milanov is the man with the baton. Judging by the reputation he has garnered working with young players in the Philadelphia-based training orchestra, Symphony in C, he is the right man for the job.
Symphony in C is "the natural thing to have when you're not so far from three world-class conservatories," he says.
Milanov puts his alma mater, the Curtis Institute, at the top of the list, adds the Juilliard and the Peabody, and assures me there are others.
His ultimate reward is "seeing young people moving further along and realising their dreams.
"The most wonderful thing is when someone comes to you and says, 'I've just got a principal trombone post with the Cleveland Orchestra and I want to thank you for everything I've learned here'."
Some of the young players at next Saturday's NZSO NYO concert will no doubt end up in the ranks of professional orchestras and Milanov's programme of Vaughan Williams, Stravinsky, John Adams and Rachmaninov is as testing as any they might come across later.
"Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances is a remarkable piece," says Milanov.
"It's his best orchestral work, enormously difficult and so much fun to play."
This is the symphony of the evening, living up to its title on both counts. "And it's like an encyclopedia of all the Russian music that has been written before it," he exclaims.
The other Russian piece next Saturday is Stravinsky's 1924 Piano Concerto, featuring pianist Jason Bae.
"This is not your typical Stravinsky," Milanov laughs. "It's in his anti-romantic style and has some very angular and interesting writing for brass and woodwind. This will make the young musicians realise there's more to Stravinsky than The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring."
Brass and woodwind stand to the side while the strings explore the pastoral soundscapes of Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis.
Such works are able to be included because "the standard of string playing has come ahead so much in recent years", Milanov says. "I'm absolutely amazed by the quality of young players compared to 20 years ago."
Little surprise that Bulgarian-born Milanov, who has been in the States for the past two decades, is particularly pleased to be scheduling John Adams' The Chairman Dances, from his ground-breaking 1987 opera Nixon in China.
Adams' piece "sounds very easy on the outside, but it is devilishly difficult to get on top of", Milanov says. "It requires enormous concentration and attention span just to get through it."
Talking about the music of today, Milanov is keen to offer some of his own theories of the 21st century mix, joking that "you can tell right away what a composer's been listening to, whether it's Orthodox church music or the Beatles".
He is cagey about speculating with Adams, but "there's certainly something of American rock and roll in the repetition that we find in this music. After all, the sounds that we are initially exposed to make a huge imprint on later life".
In the meantime, there is much work to be done in the week leading up to the concert, creating performances that "have the ability to transform people. And that's our mission," Milanov reflects. "It's not just a case of learning the notes and teaching fingers to hit the right spot."
What: NZSO National Youth Orchestra
Where: Auckland Town Hall
When: Saturday August 28 at 7.30pm
