Jose Milewski was born in South Africa and came to Australia in 1995. He started playing the piano at the age of seven, initially taught by his mom and then at the University of Cape Town College of Music. He played and won awards at Eisteddfods, on the radio and at concerts.
"Losing touch a little in my teenage years and learning to play the guitar, I returned to regular piano playing in my twenties, performing occasionally at small concerts and wondering how best to forge a musical career. I played both classical music and modern, anything from Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven to Cat Stevens, the Beatles, Elton John and Abba. I also composed my own music.”
In his forties, he put more emphasis on composing and in 2002 he composed ten pieces and played them on a digital piano, recording them onto his PC and producing the first solo version of the Nights On Io CD.
"In 2005 / 2006 I spent more than a year at Gemsound Recording Studio in the Perth Hills, adding instrument tracks to the pieces by playing the various instrument parts on the piano using the strings setting or MIDI to transform the piano to flute, horn, cello and double bass sounds.
Live drums and guitar were added to some pieces.
I've played several times at Dear Friends Garden Restaurant in Caversham, at Gemsound Studio concerts, at cocktail evenings (eg The Weld Club), at the opening of the Perth International Arts Festival, at weddings and at the Barre Cafe. I'm aiming to do a lot more live performing.
In April this year I was interviewed on Radio Fremantle and my pieces and first song “It’s Not Too Late” have been played there as well as on various S. African radio stations.
Many people struggle with my unusual name. It's pronounced 'Jozay Mil-ef-ski'. The reason my first name is pronounced with a 'J' and not an 'H' is because it's Portuguese, not Spanish."
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