Marta Brankovich

Serbian-born pianist Marta Brankovich moved to the U.S. in 2005 and has concertized widely there, also establishing a teaching career. She has billed herself as the "Black Swan of Piano." Brankovich was born in Belgrade, Serbia. She has also used the name Marta Milošević-Branković, but in the U.S., she has used the simpler form with no diacritical markings. She had early piano studies with Jakuthon Mlhailovich. Brankovich attended the University of Belgrade, completing a double major in piano performance and music marketing with the highest GPA in her class. She took third place in the Rubinstein Piano Competition in 1997 and also won a Serbian government scholarship that allowed her to develop her career in the U.S. Settling in Miami, she studied with Kemal Gekić at Florida International University. While studying for her master's, Brankovich appeared at various festivals, including the European Piano Teachers Association Festival in Irland, the International Keyboard Institute Festival in New York, and the New Music Festival in Florida, among others. Brankovich has given some 150 concerts along the U.S. eastern seaboard, sometimes performing in a duo with her teacher Gekić. She has retained ties to her home region, touring Europe twice, most recently in 2016, and appearing on Radio Vltava and Radio Prague Channel 3. In 2017, she was signed to the Navona Records label and released the album Black Swan of the Piano, a recital featuring several of her own compositions as well as works by Satie, several Serbian composers, Fredrick Kaufman, and others. She has continued to use the "Black Swan of Piano" sobriquet. In 2021, Brankovich was featured in the film The Whole in Parts, playing music by Kaufman. Brankovich returned in 2023 on Navona with the album Marta, The Tempest: I Will Be the Last Storm Encountered.
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