A “superb pianist with tremendous character… a supremely responsive musician”, Milica Jelača Jovanović enjoys a multifaceted career as a concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and educator. Born into a family of professional musicians in Belgrade, Serbia, Milica Jelača Jovanović began giving recitals at the age of 8.  She has appeared as a soloist with Seattle Philharmonic in Benaroya Hall, with Bainbridge Symphony, Bellingham Symphony, Lake Union Civic Orchestra, Whatcom Symphony, Western Washington University Symphony, Sioux City Symphony, and Radio TV Belgrade Symphonic Orchestra, in concertos by Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Price, Prokofiev (I, II and III) and Shostakovich (I). She opened the 2018/19 Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra season in Benaroya Hall, Seattle, as a soloist in Chopin E minor Concerto, opened the 2023/24 Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra season in Florence Price Concerto, and in 2025 she performed Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 with Lake Union Civic Orchestra to mark 50 years from his death. She has played solo recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the United States, as well as in Toronto and Vancouver (Canada), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Prague (the Czech Republic), Paris (France), Constanţa (Romania), Skopje and Shtip (Republic of North Macedonia), Katowice and Krakow (Poland), Lübeck and Eckernförde (Germany), Bolzano (Italy), Dubna, Moscow, Novoagansk, Raduzhni, St. Petersburg, Surgut (Russia), Beograd, Vrnjacka Banja, Kikinda, Negotin, Niš, Novi Sad, Priština, and Valjevo (Serbia). Her solo performances include the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert series in Chicago, Les AMIS concert series in Toronto, the Jugokoncert Concert Series and Centar za Muziku Concert Series in Beograd, Serbia, and the prestigious Music Festivals: the third edition of International “Contemporary Music Festival 2025”- Shtip, in Norh Macedonia, as well as “Vrnjci”, “Novosadsko Muzičko Leto”, “BEMUS”, and “Mokranjčevi dani” in Serbia. Critics described her performances as "extraordinary" and “poetic” and called her a “pianist of great energy and charisma”.

Besides winning numerous Serbian and Yugoslavian national piano competitions at a young age, Ms. Jelača Jovanović won prizes at several international competitions, including the inaugural 2005 Iowa International Piano Competition and the First Prize at the 23rd Bartók-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition in Virginia in 2003. Her recording of works by Prokofiev, Karača, Radovanović, Briggs, Radić, Sommer and Bartók, entitled Bright Moods was released in 2012 under the MSR Classic label and the critics praised the "beauty", "expressiveness" and "refinement" of her interpretation. In 2006 she organized the “Schumann Madness Festival“ in Bellingham to mark the 150th anniversary of Robert Schumann's death, while one critic called her Schumann “the best in the world”. She has been interviewed and has recorded for various radio and television programs in the United States (Northwest Focus Live King FM 98.1, NPR WFMT Chicago, LOOP 25 TV channel, NPR WJFF Radio Catskill), Serbia (Radio Belgrade Programs I, II, and III, Studio B, TV Belgrade, Art TV, Politika TV), Romania (Neptun Art TV) and Russia (Raduzhni Television), and was profiled along with other musicians of note in books by Gordana Krajačić entitled “Muzička Pinakoteka” (2003) and Muzički Svetionik (2021).

Ms. Jelača Jovanović holds a Master of Music Degree and Artist Diploma from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and a Doctorate in Piano Performance from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and is currently a Professor of Piano and Coordinator of the Keyboard Program at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, USA. Her teachers include Logan Skelton, Penelope Crawford, Mikhail Voskresensky, Elena Kuznietsova, Igor Laszko, Olga Janković and Mirjana Jovanović. In Ann Arbor, she has opportunity to work with the harpsichordist Edward Parmentier, and, in masterclass settings, she has also worked with Homero Francesch, Yong Hi Moon, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, and Earl Wilde.

Dr. Jelača Jovanović has given numerous master classes, workshops and presentations for piano teachers and students in the US, Canada, Russia, Serbia and North Macedonia, and was adjudicator at many piano competitions, including the US Music Teachers National Association State and Northwest Divisional Competitions, Zemun International Piano Competition in Zemun, Serbia, Global Outstanding Chinese Artists Association International Piano Competition in Vancouver, Canada, the Frances Walton Ladies Musical Club of Seattle Competition, Chopin Northwest Festival in Seattle, the Vancouver Women's Musical Society Piano Competition in Vancouver, BC, the US Open Piano Competition in Oakland, California, University of Washington Piano Concerto Competition, as well as numerous Convention Recital Competitions for Washington State Music Teachers Association chapters.

Photo Courtesy: @Linda Wright Photography,lindawrightphotography.com