Independent Arts News Reporting The Princeton Festival Guild Presents Annual Artists’ Roundtable at Princeton Public Library
Reported on Friday, May 22, 2026.
Pictured Above: Maestro Rossen Milanov and soprano Tonie Marie Palmertree. Photo Credit: Contributed.
NEWSROOM POST: PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Featuring cast, director, and conductor of Giacomo Puccini’s tragic opera Madama Butterfly
Princeton, NJ — Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s (PSO’s) Princeton Festival Guild presents its annual Artists’ Roundtable on Tuesday, June 2, at 6:30pm in the Princeton Public Library’s Community Room. The Guild invites anyone curious about what goes into putting on an opera to this round table discussion centered on Giacomo Puccini’s tragic opera Madama Butterfly.
Panelists led by Maestro Rossen Milanov will discuss the upcoming Princeton Festival production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. Stage Director Eve Summer and members of the cast will provide delightful insights into artists’ roles, and the joys and challenges of being in the opera business.
Madama Butterfly is a masterpiece and one of the most popular works in the opera repertoire. Its plot explores themes of love, betrayal, and heartbreak. It is a tragic love story involving a young Japanese woman, Cio-Cio-San, and an American naval officer, Pinkerton.
Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov has established himself as a conductor with considerable national and international presence. In addition to leading the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and the Princeton Festival, Mr. Milanov is the music director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and chief conductor of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra in Ljubljana. Noted for his versatility, he is a welcomed presence in the worlds of opera and ballet. He has collaborated with Komische Oper Berlin (Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk), Opera Oviedo with the Spanish premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Mazzepa and Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle (awarded best Spanish production for 2015), and Opera Columbus (Verdi’s La Traviata). He has been seen at New York City Ballet and collaborated with some of the best-known choreographers of our time such as Mats Ek, Benjamin Millepied, and most recently Alexei Ratmansky in the critically acclaimed revival of Swan Lake in Zurich with Zurich Ballet and in Paris with La Scala Ballet.
Described as having “a gift for translating classic symbolism into familiar detail” with work that is “transfixingly personal,” Eve Summer‘s recent directing credits include Ariodante (Boston Baroque), Trouble in Tahiti (The Glimmerglass Festival), Rigoletto, Tosca, Don Giovanni (Opera Columbus), Così fan tutte, Les Mamelles de Tirésias/The Seven Deadly Sins, Albert Herring (The Curtis Institute), The Barber of Seville (Opera Saratoga), The Little Prince (Tulsa Opera), Don Giovanni (Opera Carolina), and L’elisir d’amore, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, The Pirates of Penzance, Don Giovanni, The Mikado, Le docteur Miracle, Così fan tutte (Opera Grand Rapids). Acclaimed for her “approach [which] refreshes hope for the future of opera” additional recent credits include: The Pearl Fishers (Opera Tampa and Opera in Williamsburg), La Traviata (Annapolis Opera), The Tales of Hoffmann (Opera Orlando and Opera in Williamsburg), La donna del lago (Resonance Works), Xerxes (Connecticut Early Music Festival), La clemenza di Tito, Little Women (Boston University Opera Institute), and Le nozze di Figaro (Knoxville Opera).
The Princeton Festival Guild is dedicated to introducing young and old alike to the joy and inspiration of great performances. The Guild supports the Festival’s many educational and community engagement programs designed to excite, inform, inspire, and invite discovery and engagement. Guild members play a critical role in the overall success of the Festival by supporting Festival events, organizing fund raisers, and providing hospitality.
The June 2 Artists’ Roundtable is free and open to the public. For more information or tickets to see Madama Butterfly at the Princeton Festival on June 12 or 14, call 609-497-0020 or visit princetonsymphony.org/festival.
Pictured Above: Stage Director Eve Summer and Maestro Rossen Milanov. Photo Credit: Contributed.
CALENDAR LISTING:
Tuesday, June 2, at 6:30pm – The Princeton Festival Guild invites the curious minded to this roundtable discussion centered on Giacomo Puccini’s tragic opera Madama Butterfly. Panelists led by Maestro Rossen Milanov will discuss the upcoming Princeton Festival production of the opera. Stage Director Eve Summer and members of the cast will provide delightful insights into artists’ roles, and the joys and challenges of being in the opera business. The Community Room at the Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon St, Princeton, NJ. Accommodations or services can be arranged with two weeks’ notice, contact Mika at mgodbole@princetonsymphony.org; For information, call 609-497-0020 or visit princetonsymphony.org/festival.
Programs, artists, dates, and times are subject to change.
Accessibility
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra is committed to ensuring all programming is accessible for everyone, working with venues such as Morven Museum & Garden and Trinity Church to provide needed services. Contact ADA Coordinator Mika Godbole for questions about available services at mgodbole@princetonsymphony.org or (609) 905-0931. Note: some services require at least two weeks’ notice to arrange.
ABOUT THE PRINCETON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) is a cultural centerpiece of the Princeton community and one of New Jersey’s finest music organizations, a position established through performances of beloved masterworks, innovative music by living composers, and an extensive network of educational programs offered to area students free of charge. Led by Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov, the PSO presents orchestral, pops, and chamber music programs of the highest artistic quality, supported by lectures and related events that supplement the concert experience. Its flagship summer program The Princeton Festival brings an array of performing arts and artists to Princeton during multiple weeks in June. Through PSO BRAVO!, the orchestra produces wide-reaching and impactful education programs in partnership with local schools and arts organizations that culminate in students attending a live orchestral performance. The PSO receives considerable support from the Princeton community and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, regularly garnering NJSCA’s highest honor. Recognition of engaging residencies and concerts has come from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the PSO’s commitment to new music has been acknowledged with an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming and a Copland Fund Award. The only independent, professional orchestra to make its home in Princeton, the PSO performs at historic Richardson Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University.
Find the PSO online at www.princetonsymphony.org; on facebook at www.facebook.com/princetonsymphony; on Twitter at www.twitter.com/psomusic and on flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/princetonsymphony.
