Milica Jelača Jovanović, Piano

Biography

Born into a family of accomplished musicians in Belgrade, Serbia, Milica Jelača Jovanović began giving recitals at the early age of 8.  Hailed "a pianist of great energy and charisma," she has concertized as a solo recitalist and chamber musician in the US, Canada, as well as throughout Europe, in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Serbia, and the UK, including  the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert series in Chicago, Les AMIS concert series in Toronto, University of Evansville Piano Series, California State University Sacramento Piano Series, as well as the Festivals "Novosadsko Muzičko Leto" in Novi Sad, "BEMUS" in Belgrade, and "Mokranjčevi dani" in Negotin, Serbia.  Besides winning numerous Serbian and Yugoslavian national piano competitions,  Ms. Jelača Jovanović won prizes at several international competitions, including at the inaugural 2005 Iowa International Piano Competition and the First Prize at the 23rd Bartók-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition in Virginia in 2003.

Ms. Jelača Jovanović has appeared as soloist with the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra, RTV Belgrade Symphonic Orchestra, "Stanislav Binički" Symphonic Orchestra, "Josip Slavenski" Baroque Orchestra, Sioux City Symphony Orchestra and WWU Student Symphony Orchestra among others.  She has been interviewed and has recorded for various radio and television programs in the US, Serbia and Russia, and was profiled along with other musicians of note in a book by Gordana Krajačić entitled "Muzička Pinakoteka".  In 2006 she organized the "Schumann Madness Festival" in Bellingham to mark the 150th anniversary of Robert Schumann's death, where she performed in several solo and chamber recitals, and as soloist with the orchestra.  Her most recent recording of Schumann works will be released under the Centaur label.

Following her studies in Belgrade, Ms. Jelača Jovanović earned her Master of Music Degree and Artist Diploma at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Moscow under Mikhail Voskresensky and Elena Kuznietzova, and her Doctorate in Piano Performance at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor under Logan Skelton.  She has also worked with Penelope Crawford, Jerome Lowenthal, Yong Hi Moon, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, and Earl Wild.  In 2004, she took a position at Western Washington University, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Piano and Coordinator of the Keyboard Area.

A few press quotes: 

"The featured soloist, Milica Jelača Jovanović, played Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor superbly. She is truly a gifted musician." S. J., Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, US.

"Magnificent feeling of every tone...deeply experienced performance... testified to the richness of the young pianist's ideas, creating a spectrum of sonorities..." G.K.   Koncertni Blic, Beograd, Serbia.

"Magnificent and Inspired...[The performance]...confirmed a deep understanding and experience of the work, splendid concentration, memory and spiritual energy possessed by young artists which she  unselfishly gives, resulting in the most complete artistic experience." V.M. Jedinstvo, Priština, Serbia.

"The special quality of her interpretation lies in an excellent communication with the orchestra, and in the possession of a refined musicality and sparkling virtuosity, which is never an aim in itself but is woven into the entire work with skill and discernment." G.K. Časopis Vojske Jugoslavije, Beograd.