Piano Duo: Marija Ilić and Milica Jelača Jovanović

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Pianist Marija Ilić is a dedicated and expressive performer of the standard repertoire, as well as the newest music of the 20th and 21st centuries. She has been praised as a compelling, poetic, and decisive musician by The New York Times, and noted for her quiet intensity. Her performances include recitals at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Clark Studio Theater at Lincoln Center, 92nd Street Y and Merkin Hall, Trinity Church, as well as at the Music Festival of the Hamptons, Norfolk Contemporary Music Festival, Hoch Chamber Music Series at Concordia College, Skinner Hall at Vassar College, Western Washington, Princeton, and Loyola Universities, and abroad at the Aldeburgh Festival in England and Musica Viva, Kolarac Hall, and Parliament Hall in Belgrade (Serbia), Constanta (Romania), and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), among others. Ilić has been collaborating in recitals with violist Lawrence Dutton of the Emerson String Quartet, performing numerous concerts at such venues as the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., as well as in Woodstock, Stamford and Bronxville. She has worked closely with some of today’s most important composers, including William Bolcom, Martin Bresnick, George Crumb, Oliver Knussen, Meredith Monk, Richard Wilson, and Aleksandra Vrebalov. Marija Ilić performs in a piano duo with Milica Jelača Jovanović, playing concerts in Europe and the United States, and is the founding principal pianist of Christopher Caines Dance Company. She often performs as a harpsichordist as well in programs that span music from the seventeenth century to the present day.

A native of Belgrade, Serbia, Marija holds her undergraduate degree from the Belgrade Music Academy, her graduate degree from the Mannes College of Music, and a doctorate in piano performance from Rutgers University, with J. S. Bach's The Art of Fugue as her doctoral topic. Her solo piano CD featuring music by J. S. Bach can be heard on the MSR Music label. She also recorded for New World Records, Mutable Music, Innova and Silent Treatment Music labels. She is on the faculty at Vassar College and Concordia Conservatory, where she is also the artistic director of the More Than Music concert series.