Milanov Conduct BOLERO & PERCUSSION at Ohio Theatre Today

The hypnotic crescendo of Ravel's Bolero sets the heart racing like no other piece of music while offering an unsurpassed display of orchestral virtuosity. It's paired with Finnish composer Rautavaara's electrifying percussion concerto, Incantations, and Brahms' sweeping and melodic third symphony. The program will be conducted by CSO Music Director Designee Rossen Milanov and feature guest percussionist Colin Currie.

The Columbus Symphony presents Bolero & Percussion at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) today, March 20, at 8pm and tomorrow, March 21, at 8pm. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 228-8600 or (800) 745-3000. The CAPA Ticket Center will also be open two hours prior to each performance. Young people between the ages of 13-25 may purchase $5 All Access tickets while available. For more information, visit www.GoFor5.com.

WOSU's Christopher Purdy will hold a free, pre-concert lecture about the program for ticket holders one hour prior to each performance.

The 2014-15 Masterworks Series is made possible through the generous support of season sponsor Anne Melvin.

About CSO Music Director Designee Rossen Milanov

Currently Music Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the nationally recognized training orchestra Symphony in C (New Jersey), Principal Conductor of Orquesta Sinfoìnica del Principado de Asturias (Spain), Music Director of the Chautauqua Institution's Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Milanov will take on the full responsibilities of Music Director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in the 2015-16 season.

Milanov studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, where he received the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship. He studied oboe and orchestral conducting at the Bulgarian National Academy of Music, and holds a Master's degree in oboe performance from Duquesne University. As the former chief conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra (2003-08) and Music Director of New Symphony Orchestra, Sofia (1997-2013), he received the Bulgarian Ministry's Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Bulgarian Culture. He was named Bulgaria's Musician of the Year in 2005, and won an ASCAP award in 2011 for his programming with Princeton Symphony Orchestra.

About guest percussionist Colin Currie

Recognised for his "athletic percussionism, compulsive showmanship, and deep musicality" (Guardian), Currie is a solo and chamber artist at the peak of his powers. Championing new music at the highest level, he is the soloist of choice for many of today's foremost composers and performs regularly with the world's leading orchestras and conductors. Currie was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award in 2000 for his inspirational role in contemporary music-making and received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2005. He is also Artist in Residence at London's Southbank Centre. www.ColinCurrie.com

About composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Brahms was a German composer and virtuoso pianist. He composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus, premiering many of his own works with some of the leading performers of his time. The Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90, was written in the summer of 1883, and premiered on December 2, 1883, by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Hans Richter who proclaimed it to be Brahms' Eroica. It is the shortest of Brahms' four symphonies; a typical performance lasts between 30 and 40 minutes. After each performance, Brahms polished his score further, until it was published in May 1884.

About composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (b. 1928)

Rautavaara is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music, and is one of the most notable Finnish composers after Jean Sibelius. He is by nature a romantic, even labeled a mystic, but he is a complex and contradictory figure whose works cannot be categorized in stylistic terms. In 2008, he completed a percussion concerto subtitled Incantations for Colin Currie. c

About composer Joseph-Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, masterful orchestration, richly evocative harmonies, and inventive instrumental textures and effects. He was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music. Commissioned by Russian actress and dancer Ida Rubinstein, Boléro is a one-movement orchestral piece originally composed as a ballet. It premiered in 1928, and is Ravel's most famous musical composition.