Cristian Bence-Muk (born August 31st,1978, in Deva, Hunedoara) graduated the “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in 2002, with a major in Composition, in the class of Professor Hans Peter Türk. In 2005, he was awarded the academic title of Doctor in Music, with a thesis coordinated by Professor Cornel Ţăranu. At present, Cristian Bence-Muk is a Lecturer at the “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca, teaching Musical Analysis. 

He received numerous national prizes for his choral, vocal, chamber, symphonic, and vocal-symphonic works, which have been performed in concerts in Romania and abroad (France, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Poland) by famous contemporary music ensembles (such as “The peärls before swïne experience”), and published by publishing houses in Romania and Switzerland. 

Among the national prizes awarded by professional associations and institutions of prestige, we mention: 1st prize at the National Coral Composition Contest „Stefan cel Mare si Sfant – 500”, Suceava, 1st Edition, 2004, the excellence prize for young composers awarded by the National Union of the Romanian Employers, Bucharest, 2005 (for the oratorio Apocalipsa and the chamber opera Moara lui Califar), and the prize of the Composers’ and Musicologists’ Association in Romania – the Cluj branch – in 2005 for the chamber opera Moara lui Călifar. 

As project director supervised two research projects funded by CNCSIS (National Council of Scientific Research): Analytic and creative investments in the ballet and chamber symphony genres of contemporary national and universal composition (2006-2007) and The artistic and social impact of the contemporary music of the 21st century from the perspective of the relationship composer-performer-audience (2010-2013), projects that stimulated the composition, the interpretation and the musicological research in the field of contemporary music. 

In 2013 he arranged and orchestrated 14 Romanian traditional carols for soloists, mixed choir, children’s choir and orchestra. The resulting CD, Maria se preumbla (Mary was wandering) was distributed in more than 10,000 copies across the country with The National Journal Newspaper (onthe 23rd of December, 2013).