Irina Kulikova was born on 30 April 1982 in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Guided from an early age by teacher Victor Kozlov and her mother, cellist Vinera Kulikova, she was already touring Russia and abroad for concerts and festivals by age twelve, and at fourteen was profiled in Maurice Summerfield’s book “The Classical Guitar, its evolution, players and personalities since 1800.” She graduated with distinction from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, the Gnessin Academy in Moscow, and the Conservatoire of Maastricht, studying with Marco Tamayo, Carlo Marchione, Simone Fontanelli, Howard Penny, and Hans Brüderl.

In 2008 Kulikova won five first prizes in a single year, including the Michele Pittaluga competition in Italy, Guitarra Alhambra in Spain, Forum Gitarre Wien in Austria, the International Guitar Competition Iserlohn in Germany, and the Twents Gitaarfestival in the Netherlands. She has recorded three solo albums, two of them in the Naxos Laureate Series, and has performed in major halls including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, and the Schloss Mirabell in Salzburg. She has lived and taught in the Netherlands since 2007.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irina_Kulikova_(guitarist)