MoniPiano
About the Artist
Monika Miodragovic was born in Belgrade, Serbia in 1993. She began her piano studies at age five and a half with professor Toma Mijatovic. At the age of nine, she enrolled in the Stankovic Music School where she studied with Dragana Mano-Zisi and Margit Pesic. She continued into the school’s high school program, knowing she would pursue a career in piano performance to cultivate and share her love for music with others. Throughout her years at the music school, she won numerous prizes in national and international competitions and was selected to perform at the internationally-recognized Kolarac Hall.
After winning the Green Card Lottery sponsored by the United States Government in 2008, Monika moved with her family to Chicago where she attended Lincoln Park High School. She earned the National School Choral Award, the highest award bestowed upon an individual for outstanding contribution to the vocal department through singing and accompanying. While attending Lincoln Park High School, Monika also began studies at Sherwood Community Music School at Columbia College. There she studied with Ivana Bukvich and she was the first student to earn the Pre-Collegiate Certificate. During her time at Sherwood she won multiple solo piano competitions, including the 2011 Young Artist Competition at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Following this, she was honored to perform Chopin's Nocturne on the stage of Chicago Symphony Hall during one of the orchestra's concerts. The same year, Monika was also chosen to participate in a composition workshop with CSO composer-in -residence Anna Clyne, resulting in Music Makers, which was performed by CSO with cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Monika was accepted into the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance where she pursued degrees in Piano Performance and Music Theory. Her first semester she studied with Prof. Louis Nagel while Prof. Christopher Harding was on a sabbatical. Under the mentorship of Prof. Harding, she further developed her interest in chamber music, eventually winning second place with her quintet at the school's inaugural Dale and Nancy Briggs Chamber Music Competition in 2014. The quintet was also chosen to perform in the highly selective Collage Concert in Ann Arbor's Hill Auditorium the same year. During her undergraduate years, Monika also spent time learning the harpsichord, honing her skills as a composer, and working as primary keyboardist for school's the Concert Band. In 2015, Monika was again chosen to perform for the Collage Concert, this time as a soloist. Shortly thereafter, she performed at Carnegie Hall after winning the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition. Monika graduated summa cum laude later that year.
Monika continued her piano studies as a Teaching Assistant at Florida International University under the tutelage of esteemed concert pianist Kemal Gekić. In 2017, Monika won the FIU Concerto Competition, playing Chopin's E minor Concerto. She was also awarded the Graduate Performance Award as a recognition for her outstanding performance achievements during her time at the school. Monika graduated with her Masters in Piano Performance. In the Fall of 2018, Monika will pursue further studies at the Roosevelt University's Music Conservatory as an Artist Diploma student under Dr. Winston Choi. Since May 2018, Monika has been hired as a Teaching Artist for Children's and Pre-Collegiate Programs at Columbia College Chicago.
Monika has attended numerous summer festivals, including the Indiana University Summer Piano Academy (2010), where she performed in a master class for the renowned pianist Menahem Pressler. She also participated in Chautauqua Summer Music Festival (2012), Eastern Music Festival (2013), and Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival (2014, 2016). She played in master classes and lessons for a number of influential pianists, including Stephen Hough, Joseph Kalichstein, Nikolai Lugansky, Rebecca Penneys, Edward Auer, James Giles, Alan Chow, Yoshikazu Nagai, Enrico Elisi, Kevin Kenner, William Wellborn, Winston Choi, Sebastian Huydts, Roman Rabinovich, Marina Lomazov, Paulina Zamora, William Wolfram, Monique Duphil, Roberta Rust, Svetozar Ivanov, Martin Katz, Gideon Rubin, Sean Duggan, Blanca Uribe, Arbo Valdma, Washington Garcia, Gabriela Montero, Denis Kozhukhin, Kuang Hao Huang, Sylvia Wang, Eugene Alcalay, Hands Dalkilic, Karen Taylor, Jokut Mihailovic, and others.
