Born into a musical family, Yova Milanova made her debut at the age of 11 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, a performance that was followed by a tour as a soloist with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, and two recordings for the Southern Television and for the Balkanton label.  

Yova Milanova studied under the tuition of André Gertler, Walter Verdehr and her grandfather Trendafil Milanov, author of a novel method of learning and teacher of several generations of outstanding Bulgarian violinists. Milanova graduated with high honours from the Liubomir Pipkov School of Music in Sofia, the Pancho Vladiguerov Higher Academy of Music in the Bulgarian capital and the Music Academy in Enschede in the Netherlands. 

Winner of the 1989 Maria Canals International Music Competition in Barcelona and winner of the Cobb Award at Michigan State University in 1992, her concert career includes engagements in Bulgaria, England, Belgium, Portugal, France, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Holland, Venezuela and the United States, where she made her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2011. 

As a teacher, Milanova was the director of Grace Notes Music Studio in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, between 2013 and 2016, and is currently the director of the Milanov Academy of Music in Madrid.