Stefan Milenkovic concert

23 March at Macedonian Philharmonic at 20:00h.

Milenkovich was born to a Serbian father, Zoran Milenković, and a Serbian-born mother of Italian descent, Lidija Kajnaco (Lidia Caenazzo).He started playing violin in 1980, at age three, taught by his father and often accompanied by his mother. His first public performance, in 1980, was followed by numerous youthful performances, including the Newport Rhode Island Music Festival and an appearance at a Reagan holiday special when he was ten years old, as well as a performance for Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988 and an appearance before Pope John Paul II when he was fourteen.

He participated in numerous international violin competitions, starting with the Jaroslav Kozian International Violin Competition before he was ten. Then, in rapid succession during 1993 and 1994, at age sixteen and seventeen, he took high prizes in ten international violin competitions. In 1993 he took third prize in the Menuhin Competition (England), reached the finalist level at the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium), and won the Rodolfo Lipizer Prize (Italy). He entered the Paganini Competition (Italy) twice and the Tibor Varga Competition (Switzerland) twice, in 1993 and 1994, taking one fourth-place and three second-place prizes. Also in 1994 he took fourth place in the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, won the Louis Spohr International Violin Competition (both, Germany), and won Silver at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.