BIO

Assist. Prof. Tina Mauko (Slovenia, 1982), Slovenian composer, pianist, classical improviser and performer, graduated in piano and composition at the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana. During her studies, she perfected her skills in piano performance with renowned piano pedagogues (Aci Bertoncelj, Sijavuš Gadžijev, Rita Kinka, Arbo Valdma, Igor Dekleva, Aleksander Madzar, Konstantin Bogino). She is an award winner of Slovenia’s national competition (two 1st prizes in piano four hands category; and a 3rd prize in piano solo category), and a winner of the international award in Cortemilia, Italia (1st prize in piano four hands category). 

Her Jewish Rhapsody was performed and recorded for the Radio Slovenia Third Channel – ARS. She established a Music Theatre for the special occasion of a three-day fairy-tale – Magical Spark, during which her compositions filled the halls of Cankarjev dom, the City Museum Ljubljana, and the Križanke outdoor theatre. As a finale of that story, Tina performed an evening of her own compositions, supported by twenty-four acclaimed Slovenian musicians. In this project, she organized the entire show, with all the rehearsals, and took care of the performance, costumes, stage, direction, posters, concert lists, planning of all costs and all the necessary coordination, and finding suitable halls for the performance. Tina’s novelty Shadows was performed at the Musical Biennale Zagreb (international festival of contemporary music), as well as on the stage of Festival Ljubljana.

Her chamber opera Iron Mountain was recorded by Radio-Television Slovenia: the Great Hall of the Slovenian Philharmonic building hosted a concert of percussionists, and later a concert pianist, who all performed Tina’s new compositions. As part of the event, French pianist François Weigel (member of the jury at the Chopin Golden Ring competition), performed Waltz op.1, a mandatory song for the competitors in the mentioned competition.

In April 2011, at the Linhart Hall of Cankarjev dom, Tina dedicated her Ballet Versesto the department of ballet of the Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana. In the same month, her new piece for soprano and symphonic orchestra, Anna Ahmatova,was performed at the Gallus Hall of Cankarjev dom. According to Mojca Menart, director of the largest record company in Slovenia ZKP RTV SLO, the event was "one of the high points of this year’s concert season". In 2012, Tina composed the piece Najen prt for the project Murske balade in romance, run by Feri Lainšček. 

Deemed by some as neo-romantic, Tina Mauko’s music is timeless and sensual, although at the same time she manages to navigate successfully through the landscapes of already heard classical music.

In 2013, the City Gallery in Ljubljana hosted Fragments of Happiness, an exhibition curated by Sarival Sosić, for which Tina created a musical installation in a dark room that received rave reviews according to audience responses. In July 2013, Tina composed a cycle of compositions for soprano, mezzo-soprano and piano, dedicated to English writer and poet W. H. Auden, as part of a project supported by the Ministry of Culture. 

In January 2014, the Slovenian Philharmonic performed the composition Najen prtfor symphonic orchestra under the direction of conductor Simon Krečič. In November 2014, Tina’s musical score for the Russian director Andrey Shuskov’s film Invention of Love was performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Young Musicians under the direction of conductor Tilen Draksler, who also conducted the concert accompanying the animated film Invention of Love at Narodni dom in Celje. In addition, Slovenia’s Public Fund for Cultural Activities (JSKD) released Tina’s three-part composition for young zither players. 

Snow Queen is Tina Mauko’s new form of musical creativity, a so-called Author’s Musical Performance: the first concert was performed in Rogaška Slatina in December 2013. The Marija Magdalena musical performance was selected for a concert at the 2015 Festival Ljubljana. The piece Najen prt (international ensemble) was performed in November 2014 at the Domžale Festival under artistic director Mate Bekavac. In 2014, Tina was selected by the Ministry of Culture as a musician-in-residence in Vienna, representing Slovenia as a distinguished composer and improviser. In collaboration with pianist and producer Dejan Berden, she released a unique CD project entitled MB4 (improvisation, four hands piano) in 2015. In the same year, they were selected for a concert at the Sarajevo Winter Festival 2015 in BiH. In March 2015, Tina's oeuvre was presented in the TV show Opus by journalist Darja Korez.

In August 2015, her Author's Musical Performance Marija Magdalena was performed at Festival Ljubljana, and later at Negova Castle, which was filled to capacity. According to the critics, the audience was enthralled. As part of a series of concerts called Cankar's Tuesdays, a free improvisation concert by Tina Mauko took place in February 2016 at the Cankarjev dom Club. In March 2016, Marija Magdalena was performed in the prestigious City Hall as part of the 32nd Sarajevo Winter Festival.

Tina also created a composition for the theatre performance Triko, written by Milan Jesih, and directed by Gorazd Žilavec (Šentjakob Theatre). She is the author of compositions Đenaza for piano and violin (performed at the premises of the Society of Slovene Composers (DSS) in Križanke, and later by clarinetist Mate Bekavac with vibraphonist Jože Bogolin), and Škorpijon for piano, performed by herself as part of the Night of Slovenian Composers. Between 2017 and 2018, Tina Mauko was an opera accompanist at the Slovene National Theatre in Maribor; since 2018, she has also been working as a ballet accompanist at the Slovene National Theatre in Ljubljana. In 2018, she began teaching harmony and counterpoint as Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Education in Maribor. She wrote a libretto and the music for her Fantastic chamber opera, The Little Match Girl. The premiere was in Stara elektrarna in Ljubljana on June 2021, and on Festival Ljubljana in July 2022. In 2022, Tina was invited as a repetitor for opera in France (Metz, Reims).

Tina also tried her hand at creating production music, which resulted in a unique pop experiment, Feel Valentine, with Tina being both, author and singer. Her other works include librettos.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Piano teacher (Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana); Assistant Professor of Harmony and Counterpoint (Faculty of Education, University of Maribor); opera repetitor (SNG –  Slovene National Theatre Maribor, Metz-France, Reims-France); ballet repetitor (SNG –  Slovene National Theatre Ljubljana); and ballet repetitor (Conservatory of Music and Ballet Ljubljana).