Jazz Pianist | Composer

Milan Conić was born on March 27, 1992, in Leskovac, Serbia. He began studying piano at the music school Stanislav Binički and took private lessons in jazz piano and harmony as a teenager. During this period, he performed as a pianist and singer in various venues in Leskovac and the surrounding area.

At 18, he moved to Luhansk, Ukraine, to study classical, jazz, and popular piano, performing widely across the country from 2010 to 2014. With the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, he was forced to evacuate shortly after completing his studies. From late 2014 until 2016, he studied jazz singing at the Vienna Conservatory with Eva Maria Valenta, and in 2017, he focused further on jazz piano under Nikola Stanošević.

Between 2014 and 2017, Milan participated in Viennese jam sessions and hosted his own. He performed as a solo pianist and accompanist at Galerie am Roten Hof, organized concerts and exhibitions, and in 2016, formed his first jazz trio, winning first place at Podium Jazz Pop Rock. He also played in Big Bang Big Band, performed at Porgy & Bess, and founded his first band, Milan’s Groove Kitchen.

In 2017, he continued jazz piano studies at Anton Bruckner Private University with Dejan Pečenko, later with Martin Stepanik, and studied composition with Christoph Cech.

In 2019, Milan joined Badcafé in Linz as pianist and art host, performing regularly and organizing concerts, jam sessions, and piano-singer events. He collaborated with numerous Linz-based musicians across jazz, pop, musical, groove, and jam genres. The Badcafé Sunday Jam became a regular gathering point for Anton Bruckner University teachers and students.

In 2021, Milan left Badcafé and began organizing concerts and programs at various other Linz music locations and theatres (Café Smaragd, Theater Phönix, DH5, Theater in der Innenstadt), where the project—and later cultural association—Linz in2 Jazz was founded. Through it, he hosted and performed with Peter O’Mara, Jeff Boudreaux, Andreas Schreiber, Christian Kronreif, Fabian Rucker, Peter Herbert, Andreas Taler, and later Harry Sokal and Efrat Alony.

Also in 2021, he began researching Messiaen’s Mode 3 of the modes of limited transposition, which has since deeply shaped his musical expression.

In 2022, he founded and composed for the ensemble East and West, performing at Anton Bruckner Private University and Landestheater Linz. His piece Madness and Fear reflects his experiences of the war in Ukraine (2010–2014).

In 2023, Milan recorded his debut EP (and published two years later) with five original compositions based on Mode 3, alongside Chris Kronreif, Fabian Rucker, Peter Herbert, and Max Plattner. That year, he also performed as bandleader and composer at the Schäxpir Festival with the cultural association Spätschicht in the interdisciplinary project MS Florentine. At the end of 2023, he composed for Janus Ensemble and began teaching piano at the Music School of the City of Linz.

In 2025, he recorded his own music with Viviane Töbich and the band Tishina, and composed 33 minutes of music for the performance movie El Cultivo de la Mente. He also composed and performed as bandleader at the Schäxpir Festival Linz in the theater piece SinCity, collaborating with Imre Lichtenberger Bozoki and Suse Lichtenberger. Later that year, he launched the electronic duo The Unsettled, exploring experimental sound in collaboration with producer J SAN.