ABOUT MILENA

Born in Prizren, Serbia, Milena began her classical guitar studies at the age of eleven. After finishing music high school in Belgrade, Serbia, Milena graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Guitar Performance, studying under Prof. Zoran Krajišnik. She continued her studies at Indiana University, earning a Performer Diploma and Master’s Degree in Guitar Performance from the Jacobs School of Music, under the guidance of Maestro Ernesto Bitetti. In 2021, she completed her doctoral studies in guitar at the University of Minnesota, with a minor in Music Education.

Milena frequently performs as a soloist and in various chamber ensembles, including guitar duo, duos with flute, violin, voice and clarinet, and other ensembles. She has performed across the United States and Europe, and has been featured as a soloist on Minnesota Public Radio. She has received awards at numerous national and international music festivals and competitions, and has performed solo recitals at guitar festivals in Szeged, Hungary and Subotica, Serbia as part of her competition prizes. Recently, Milena has performed for the Southern Guitar Festival as part of the MM Guitar Duo with Maja Radovanlija, and at the GuitarArt Summer Fest and Cultural Summer of Podgorica festivals in Montenegro with guitarist Benjamin Kunkel. Since 2021, Milena has been a member of the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet. 

Milena is also an accomplished teacher. She was awarded teaching assistantships at both Indiana University and the University of Minnesota, where she taught private guitar lessons as well as group classes for six years. She was on the faculty of McNally Smith College of Music, and currently teaches guitar at St. Joseph’s School of Music and the St. Paul Conservatory of Music in St. Paul, MN. Milena also works with the Minnesota Guitar Society in their Guitar in Our Schools program as a project coordinator.