Veronika Ćiković was born in Rijeka in 1997. In 2004 she enrolled in the Ivan Matetić Ronjgov Music School, at the same time receiving harp lessons from her mother. In 2015 she entered the Zagreb Academy of Music where she studied under Diana Grubišić Ćiković and graduated magna cum laude in 2020. In 2021 she enrolled in specialist studies in harp at the Zagreb Academy of Music, where she specialises in the theme of French harp music in the first half of the 20th century under Mirjam Lučev Debanić. In 2021 she also started two-year studies at the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado in Milan under Irina Zingg. She performs as a soloist (the Young Musicians Series at the Matrix Croatica, the Young Musicians Series Vinko Lesić, the Ferdo Livadić International Competition of Young Musicians, the Jeunesses Musicales Croatia Young Musicians Series, the 55th Darko Lukić Competition etc.), in various chamber ensembles (harp duo and trio Ćiković, duo Eolian with flautist Lucija Stilinović) and as a member of the Croatian harp orchestra 1000 Strings. As a soloist she has performed with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rijeka Chamber Orchestra and the String Orchestra of the Zagreb Academy of Music. In 2020 she received the Dean’s Award for her performance of Debussy’s Danse sacrée et danse profane with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. As a soloist, she has won first prizes at national competitions hosted by the Croatian Association of Music and Dance Educators, first prize at the Concorso Internazionale Giovani Musicisti − Premio Antonio Salieri and gold plaques at Slovenian Harp Association’s International Harp Competitions. As part of the harp duo with Brin Bernatović, she has won first prizes at national competitions hosted by the Croatian Association of Music and Dance Educators in the category of chamber music, and at international chamber music competitions Concorso Internazionale Giovani Musicisti − Premio Antonio Salieri, International Music Competition in Marija Bistrica and Concurso Ibérico. She has participated in masterclasses held by renowned harpists such as Patrizia Tassini, Irina Zingg, Petra van der Heide, Chantal Mathieu, Coline-Marie Orliac, Ion Ivan Roncea etc., and in 2016 she attended the Harp Masters Academy in Switzerland. She regularly collaborates with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, opera orchestras of the Croatian National Theatre Zagreb and Croatian National Theatre Ivan Zajc Rijeka and Cantus Ensemble. In 2018 she passed the audition and performed as a member of the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra − L’Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditerranée (conducted by Kazushi Ono).

Photo (c) Luka Stanzl, Pixsell