Magdalena Banfić is an award-winning Croatian guitarist. She attended elementary music school in Ivanec in the class of Professor Mislav Vudjan and completed her secondary music education in Koprivnica under Professor Antonio Rumenović. She currently works as a guitar teacher at the Varaždin Music School and the Bonar Music School in Zagreb.

In 2022, she graduated with distinction from the Conservatorium Maastricht, earning a Bachelor of Music degree under the guidance of renowned guitarist and pedagogue Carlo Marchione (Italy). She continued her education at one of the world’s most prestigious universities – the Mozarteum University Salzburg – where she graduated in 2025 in the class of Professor Laura Young (Canada), earning a Master of Arts degree (mag. art.).

Magdalena began playing the guitar at the age of eight, and from the very beginning, she showed a remarkable passion for music, performance, and competition. She is the recipient of numerous awards in Croatia and abroad, including:

• 1st Prize – Enrico Mercatali International Guitar Competition, Gorizia (Italy)

• 1st Prize – Porečki Tirando, Poreč (Croatia)

• 1st Prize – Sarajevo Guitar Fest, Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

• Absolute Winner – Pula Guitar Fest, Pula (Croatia)

• 2nd Place – National HDGPP Competition (Croatia)

• 2nd Prize – Omiš Guitar Fest, Omiš (Croatia)

and many other awards in Croatia and abroad.

Throughout her musical education, she has refined her artistry by attending masterclasses with prominent international pedagogues and guitarists such as Judicaël Perroy, Pablo Márquez, Paolo Pegoraro, Martha Masters, Thomas Offermann, Stefan Schmidt, Marco Socias, Pedro Mateo, David Pavlovits, Jure Cerovnik, Nejc Kuhar, Josip Dragnić, Boris Tešić, Mak Grgić, Sanel Redžić, István Römer, Anton Črnugelj, Xhevdet Sahatxhija, Dejan Ivanović, Łukasz Kuropaczewski, Arturo Tallini, Johannes Monno, and many others.

As a student, she was the founder of Euterpe Association, the first student association of music academies in the Netherlands. The association is dedicated to organizing concerts, events, and projects for students and young artists, and it remains active today.

In 2022, she founded a duo with Slovenian harpist Leta Križanić Žorž, focusing on transcriptions of piano music for the combination of harp and guitar, as well as introducing new works to the repertoire. Since 2023, she has been a member of the Mozarteum Guitar Ensemble, a project led by Professors Andrea De Vitis and Laura Young, dedicated primarily to the performance of contemporary music. Magdalena is also a member of the trio Guitar&Co, together with guitarists Antonio Rumenović and Slađan Čolović, and collaborates with internationally acclaimed sopranos Jelena Štefanić, Marija Magdalena Kočila, and Tamara Ivaniš.