All About Tonka

Tonka (Zagreb, 1998) began to study cello in the class of prof. Bernarda Debuš Redžić at the age of seven. Since 2015, she has been studying cello in the class of Valter Dešpalj and in 2020 finished her studies as mag.mus. in the class of Monika Leskovar at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb. In the year 2022, Tonka has finished her postgraduate studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (mdw) in the class of Reinhard Latzko.

She trained at solo and chamber seminars with renowned cellists and pedagogues such as Ivan Monighetti, Rainer Schmidt (Hagen Quartet), Xenia Jankovic, Romain Garioud, Claudio Bohróquez, Avedis Kouyoumdijan, Gustavo Tavares, Evgeny Rumyantseva, Michael Flaksmann at masterclasses like the Gstaad Menuhin Festival String Academy, the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein and at the Cello Academy Rutesheim.

As a soloist, Tonka has performed with the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Croatian Radiotelevision Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb Soloists, the Cantus Ensemble, the Webern Kammerphilharmonie and the Croatian Music Youth Orchestra. She has won many awards from national and international competitions such as 1st prize and the award of the Croatian Society of Composers at the 7th Croatian Competition of Young Music Artists Papandopulo 2018 and the award for best placed Croatian candidate in 2020 at the 7th competition Antonio Janigro. In 2023 she again won the award of the Croatian Society of Composers for the best performance of a Croatian composer at the Darko Lukić competition.

She was a member of the awarded piano trio Trio Eusebius, a piano trio that has been active since 2017 till 2023.  with Eva Šulić and David Vuković under the mentorship of prof. Pavle Zajcev. In 2019, the trio won the international competition Ferdo Livadić, and the competition Boris Papandopulo in the category of standard chamber music ensembles. In 2021, they also won the main prize of the Darko Lukić competition. Together they performed at prestigious festivals such as Osor Musical Evenings, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Samobor Music Autumn …

In addition to the award winning chamber ensemble Trio Eusebius, she often performs in different chamber music groups like Trio Marginal with pianist Elizabeta Adžaga Merčep and flutist Marijana Bačelić, Duo Bašić - Javorović with violinist Marija Bašić, Trio Ripos with cembalist Franjo Bilić and Marijana Bačelić and many more with prominent artists at concerts in Croatia and abroad, so in addition to regular performances in most European countries, she has given concerts and tours in North and South America, Asia and in the Middle East. Performed as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles at the opening of the Milka Kelemen Days Festival, the Grafenegg Festival in Austria, the Spazio Klassik in Italy, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the isaFestival, Franjo Krežma Memorial, Osor Musical Evenings, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Samobor Music Autumn and many more.

Tonka has been going through demanding auditions for many years and represented the Republic of Croatia in the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO). In 2013 at the Summer School Leverhulme, Grafenegg, Austria she participated in the work of Sistema Europa and El Sistema Venezuela, and in 2014 she participated in the work of the European Music Campus Orchestra (EMCO), Austria. In the year 2019 she was a leader of the cello section at EUYO.  

In May of 2022 she passeed an audition for a position in The Zagreb Soloists ensemble and is currently on trail. Until October of 2023 she was a tutti substitute at the Zagreb Philharmonics until she passed the audition for principal cellist at the Croatian  National Theatre in Zagreb. 

In addition to playing on festivals mention above,

Tonka performed as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles at the opening of the Milka Kelemen Days Festival, the Grafenegg Festival in Austria, the Spazio Klassik in Italy, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the isaFestival, Franjo Krežma Memorial and many more...

As the topic of Tonka's graduation thesis at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, she chose the topic "Obligatory elements of cello practice for cellists of intermediate level". The paper explores the most important components exercises that all cellists, whether amateurs, students or professionals dealing with classical music should be used daily. In 2019, she mentored the Orchestra for Myanmar on a project in Rangoon, Myanmar educating young musicians in playing the cello, chamber music and orchestra. In 2021 she participated in the EUYO project in collaboration with the Stauffer Center for Strings in Cremona, Italy, where she mentored the EUYO String Quintet, had the opportunity to listen to seminars by renowned musicians such as Daniel Hope, Julian Rachlin, Sarah McElravy and Andrea Obiso, and she got the opportunity to learn from the renowned cellist Steven Isserlis and play with him in the chamber ensemble at the project's final concert.

In 2022 she taught cello at the Pavao Markovac Music School.

She is a winner of five Oscars of knowledge awarded by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and the Agency for Education for excellent results in national competitions. She is a scholarship holder of the Academy of Music in Liechtenstein and the winner of the Rector's and two Dean's awards.