Mara Tieles Cutie was born in Cuba but currently resides in the Netherlands. She comes from a family that has an extensive history of performing classical music; accordingly, she began to play the violin under the tutelage of her father (a pupil of David Oistrach) at the age of seven. Later obtaining her bachelor's degree at the Liceu Conservatory under violinist Corrado Bolsi. She eventually studied at CODARTS Conservatory in Rotterdam with Gordan Nikolic and then earned her Masters degree at the Maastricht Conservatory under the supervision of Julia Dinerstein.

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Both her Cuban heritage and her formal education have influenced the direction of her professional career.  She is multifaceted in her musical abilities: She plays both early and modern music. Mara often performs music in ways that push the traditional technical boundaries of the viola, including extended techniques and the inclusion of electronics. Additionally, she combines her career as a performer with her work as a conductor.

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Mara’s varied interests have compelled her to expand her ambitions as she has explored the ways in which classical music can be incorporated into electronic music. Her compositions integrate existing works from the contemporary canon with live electronics , creating a distinct sound.

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She has toured internationally (across Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East) and collaborated with a broad spectrum of artists.  She has performed with the following: Hansjörg Schellenberger, Ramon Jaffe, Andreas Frölich, Revital Hachamoff, Edith Salzmann, Viacheslav Poprugin, Corrado Giuffredi, the jazz ensemble Cuareim Quartet at the Berliner Philharmonnie, the Cinematic Orchestra, and the Mondriaan Quartet in Switzerland together with André Wilms and Heiner Goebels and others. As well as The Orchestra of the XVII Century under Franz Brüggen, European Union Baroque Orchestra as principal viola player performing with Alfredo Bernardini, Maggie Faultless, Bojan Cicic and Lars Ulrik Mortenssen. Additionally, she has recorded and performed with a wide range of notable artists that includes Snarky Puppy, Stromae, Joep Beving and Junkie XL among others. 

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Mara plays on a J. N. Leclerc viola (Paris 1776) from the collection of The Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation.