Marija Župić Bošnjak began her musical education in primary school at the music school
of Jakov Gotovac in Sinj playing the clarinet. She continued her music education in intermediate
and secondary school in Dubrovnik, at music school UŠ Luka Sorkočević, as a musician
theoretician and clarinetist in the class of Prof. Pietro Cavaliere.
Marija pursued a higher education in clarinet studies at the Academy of Music in Zagreb,
in the class of Prof. J. Tonžetić, in whose class she graduated with honors. During the
International Summer Academy Wien-Prague-Budapest, she was awarded a three-year
scholarship in the class of the distinguished pedagogue A. Prinz.
During her musical education, she took part in and won numerous prizes in Woodwind
competitions organized by the HDGPP, solo and in chamber ensembles.
In 2003, at the international competition within the Summer Academy, she won a prize for the
interpretation of the work of Gottfried von Einem. She also trained at the International Summer
Academy of the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and at numerous professional seminars with
distinguished pedagogues such as A. Prinz, S. Goričar, G. Deplus, P. Meyer, K. J. Stevenson,
W. Boeykens, L. Urdano, R .Cavallino.
In 2006., she received the Award of the Croatian Society of Composers for the best
performance of “Versus” by the Croatian composer Marko Ruždjak. She performed several
times as a soloist accompanied by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra (Donizetti, Stamitz,
Kramar, Kurpinski, Mozart) and with the Zagreb soloists in the interpretation of the composition
“Voice from Dubrovnik” by M. Miletić.
She performed as a member of the wind quintet Elfi, with a string quartet (Mozart,
Weber, Reicha, Brahms, Papandopulo) in the piano trio Tritonus-violin, clarinet, clarinet
(Khachaturian, Bartok, Stravinsky, Palanović…) and in the piano trio – clarinet, cello, piano
(Beethoven, Brahms, Skender..)
She has collaborated with many orchestras of the city of Zagreb, such as the Zagreb
Philharmonic, the Croatian National Orchestra in Zagreb, the Symphony Wind Orchestra of the
Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia, and the Croatian Chamber Orchestra.
During her stay in USA – FL she played solo clarinet in the Symphonic Band of the Palm
Beaches. Accompanied by A. Feitl and M. Matolić, she has held a number of notable
performances in her home country and abroad.
Marija has been working as a music pedagogue since 2003., at the Milka Trnina music
school in Ivanić Grad, for some time also in music school Jastrebarsko, and then from 2010.
onwards at the GU Elly Bašić in Zagreb as a clarinet and chamber music teacher.
Through many years of pedagogical experience, her clarinet students often perform solo,
with piano accompaniment and in various chamber ensembles and win numerous prizes at
regional and national competitions organized by HDGPP and the Education Agency. In
international competitions, students are often laureates, winning first and second prizes at
“Woodwind and Brass” in Varaždin, “Distant chords” in Split, “Davorin Jenko” in Belgrade,
“Sirmium Music Fest” in Srijemska Mitrovica, “Emona festival” in Ljubljana, and at the “Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland” Glasgow.