New York’s rising Teaching Artist, Maftuna Tolipova, possesses a unique blend of artistic talent, pedagogical skills, and a deep passion for creative and diverse program education. Maftuna’s exceptional teaching abilities have garnered praise from students and parents alike. One parent comments about her gift, “she inspires children with patience, humor, and exceptional musicality, leading to significant progress and self-motivation. She’s a star in music teaching.” Others agree that she is recognized as an innovative and creative thinker, constantly pushing the boundaries of music education.
Maftuna Tolipova ignites a lifelong love for the arts and music in her students. Nowadays, Tolipova finds herself more intentional about combining her passion for highlighting the enriching music from diverse cultures and teaching, and is keen to lend her talents on a grander scale – at the legendary Carnegie Hall. In addition to her role as a teaching artist, Maftuna is an integral part of the Learning and Engagement Program at Carnegie Hall. Along with the team, Maftuna helps to coordinate the Musical Explorers Program, which ‘connects students in grades K–2 to rich and diverse musical communities, enabling them to build essential musical skills while discovering songs from around the world.” The Musical Explorers team hosts at the end of the semester 10 concerts for almost 10,000 students around New York. January 2023, the vibrant, highly interactive concerts explored the unique traditions of Gullah music with Quiana Parler, two times Grammy Award winner, Malian traditional music with Yacouba, and hip-hop with Soul Science Lab. Maftuna, with excitement, shares that “It is so fascinating to see how one diverse program can bring all students together to sing/dance along and also give the students an opportunity to meet with their “idol” who they have been learning about for the whole semester. I think it’s breathtaking to share the same excitement you have with your peers in a venue like Carnegie Hall.”
Named “Top Teacher Of The Year” by Agape Music & Arts Center, Maftuna Tolipova has a great passion for teaching and sharing inspiration, diversity and inclusivity through music to the next growing generation. Additionally, as a Fellow Keyboard Teacher in 2021-2022 at Mannes School of Music, Maftuna was selected for her exceptional skills in guiding college students on their musical path. With nearly ten years of teaching experience, Maftuna has been awarded as “Steinway Educational Partner” in April 2023. From having a music education background from Uzbekistan, Philippines, Russian, China and United States of America, Maftuna has built a full package to share her diversity through music. Having taught more than 100 students, Maftuna shares that “I tailor the lesson based on each student as everyone learns in their own unique way and can have very different outcomes even though they are learning the same pieces. By advocating more diversity in music teaching, I not only provide music from composers of various countries and cultures but also blend different genres together, such as jazz, classical, pop and more, to open up options for my students to choose from. I think the vital part of being a teacher is to lead and structure the lesson in a way to help them build their own voice and space for it. Music is such a great power that can unite us, heal the broken parts of us, and create a feeling and emotions in us that no words can describe.”
Maftuna Tolipova received her Masters and Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance from Mannes School of Music. While pursuing her professional degree in New York, she has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra member in all prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum, Bohemian National Hall, Opera America, Steinway & Sons Hall, Williamsburg Music Center and many more. Maftuna Tolipova has performed across the globe, from the Philippines, Ukraine, Italy, China, Malaysia and Uzbekistan.
