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Milana Strezeva

President & Artistic Director

Praised by the critics for her “technically fluid, dramatically convincing, and sonically full-bodied supportive collaborations” (Boston Globe) – Milana Strezeva is a Moldovan-American pianist. At the age of 11 she began playing chamber music with her clarinetist father and her mother, a renowned soprano, Svetlana Strezeva. Milana’s love for family collaboration eventually grew into a passionate advocacy of vocal and instrumental chamber music.

A founding member of the award-winning Manhattan Piano Trio, one of the most creative and dynamic young ensembles in America, Milana has performed with them in over 30 American states, in Australia, South Africa and Italy, and in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and the Ravinia Festival. The Washington Post described the Trio as “impressive” and “outstanding”, while the Sarasota Herald Tribune said “one seldom is privileged to enjoy music of such a wide range of styles performed with self-effacing skill and relaxed assurance.” A CD of Schumann and Chopin trios in honor of the composers bicentennials, was successfully released on the Marquis Classics label in 2009.

She has received her training at the famed Juilliard School, as a student of Bella Davidovich and Julian Martin. Milana lives in Naples, FL with her husband Raniero Tazzi. In addition to being the President & Artistic Director of Grand Piano Series, she is an active chamber musician, pedagogue, and organist at St.Leo Catholic Church.

Fun Fact:

Milana was born in Moldova into a family of musicians, an opera singer mother, and a clarinetist father. Early on she learned the life of a touring artist, and on numerous occasions has played children’s roles in large opera productions, when the opera house where her parents worked was touring across the former Soviet Union. Growing up in a borscht-eating country, this became her staple dish.