Milica Djordjević holds a master’s degree in composition from the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, where she studied under Isidora Žebeljan. There she also completed specialized training in electronic music with Zoran Erić and Boris Despot, as well as studies in recording and sound engineering in the class of Đorđe Petrović. From 2007 to 2009, she undertook postgraduate studies in composition at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg in the class of Ivan Fedele, graduating with honors. From 2009 to 2010, resident at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, she followed the Cursus 1 in Composition and Computer Music at IRCAM. In 2011, she was admitted for a postgraduate degree in composition at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, in the class of Hanspeter Kyburz.
Parallel to her studies, she participated in masterclasses and workshops given by James Clarke, Péter Eötvös, György Kurtág, Louis Andriessen, Martijn Padding, Richard Ayres, Sam Hayden, Wolfgang Rihm, Marco Stroppa, Brian Ferneyhough, Misato Mochizuki, and Isabel Mundry.
Her catalog includes pieces for solo instruments, chamber music for ensembles ranging in size from duos to double quartets, vocal works, and large-scale orchestral compositions.
Djordjević works with many international ensembles and performers, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Mosaik, ensemble recherche, Arditti Quartet, JACK Quartet, Neuen Vocalsolisten, Peter Rundel, Marco Blaauw, Teodoro Anzellotti, Peter Veale, Tamara Stefanovich, Enno Poppe, and Francesco Dillon.
In 2022 she was composer in residence at the Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik.
Prizes and awards
- Claudio Abbado Composition Prize of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, 2020
- Staubach Fellowship, 2016
- Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, 2016
- Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music from the Forberg-Schneider Foundation, 2015
- Berlin-Rheinsberg Composition Prize, 2013
- Lucerne Festival Composition Competition Prize, 2013
- Munich Chamber Orchestra Competition Prize, 2013
- Alfred Toepfer Scholarship, 2012
- Nikola Tesla Award, 2011
- Scholarship from the City of Strasbourg, 2008
- Serbian government talent grant, 2008