Marina Matolić was born in Županja. She completed her musical education in Županja and Osijek (under Prof. Damir Sekošan). She graduated with a degree in piano in 1995 from the class of Prof. Jurica Muraj at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. Alongside her piano studies, she spent two years studying harpsichord in the class of Prof. Višnja Mažuran, and began working in chamber music and as a vocal/instrumental accompanist. She completed her two-year postgraduate piano studies in 1999 in the class of Prof. Zvjezdana Bašić, earning the title of Master of Musical Arts.
Soon after, numerous solo recitals throughout Croatia followed, along with many performances in chamber ensembles. She has participated in the “D. Lukić” Memorial, the “Young for the Young” cycle, the International Music Forum in Pula, and the E. Satie Festival in Trieste. She won 2nd prize at the international piano competition in Rome in 1996, as well as 2nd prize at the “Radio Podij” competition in collaboration with clarinetist Bruno Phillipp in 2000. She has participated in EPTA seminars in Dubrovnik in the classes of Prof. Sebastian Benda, Walter Groppenberger, and Peter Donahoe. She is a collaborator at the Summer Vocal School in Rovinj, as well as at the seminars of Prof. Milan Turković, Dunja Vejzović, Guy Deplus, David Seidel, Sharon Kam, Davor Rebа, Milko Pravdić, Žarko Perišić, Joža Kotar, Radovan Cavallin, Nicholas Cox, Ognjen Popović, David Blumberg, Ferdinand Radovan, Cynthia Hansell-Bakić, Ladislav Vrgoč, and others. She gives concerts throughout Croatia in collaboration with prominent Croatian artists — wind players and vocalists.
For many years, she has worked as the official artistic collaborator at the international summer school in Pučišća, as well as at the VIMM Varaždin/Virovitica international competition and the “Papandopulo” competition for wind players. She has won numerous national awards as an artistic collaborator at all the prominent competitions in Croatia. As an artistic collaborator with the “Stenjevec” Elementary School, she has won two silver plaques, and in 2016 a gold plaque, at the Croatian Music Youth Choir Competition in Varaždin.
Immediately after her studies, she has been permanently employed at the Academy of Music in Zagreb since 1997, currently as an artistic advisor. For 15 years, she has been teaching the subject “Accompaniment” to piano students and is actively engaged in concert activities in Croatia and abroad. She is a co-founder of the chamber duo “Pfagottiano” with bassoonist Žarko Perišić, the trio “Jongen” (Penezić, Perišić, Matolić), the Kušan/Župić/Matolić chamber trio, and the chamber trio with clarinetist Davor Reba and tenor Ladislav Vrgoč. She is actively involved in pedagogical work and has long been the director of the children’s choirs “Bajka” and “Čarobni zvuci” (“Magical Sounds”), for which she writes songs and arrangements; in 2011 she released a CD of children’s songs titled “Abeceda” (“Alphabet”). She also produces and conceives musicals and music projects for children. Recently, she became the artistic director and conductor of the Choir of Nurses and Medical Technicians of the Zagreb University Hospital Center (KBC Zagreb). She is a member of many music associations.