Russian violinist Svetlana Makarova will join the faculty at the University for Music and the Performing Arts Vienna (MDW) at the opening of the 2025/26 academic year. An experienced pedagogue, she is also on faculty at the Haute École de Musique Lausanne, where she has taught since 2014.

Born in Moscow in 1981, Makarova won the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians when she was just ten years old. She then studied with Maya Glezarova at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 2008.

Over the course of her career, Makarova has played in ensembles such as the Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofia Orchestra (under Lorin Maazel), the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, and the Valencian Symphony Orchestra, and has made guest appearances at a number of international festivals.

Her chamber music partners have included Franz Helmerson, Pavel Vernikov, Natalia Gutman, Julian Rachlin, Patrick Demenga, Gilles Apap, and Janine Jansen. She is also a member of the AMOS Piano Quartet.

Alongside her teaching position in Lausanne, Makarova has taught at Moscow’s Gnessin Russian Academy of Music, as well as holding similar positions in Florence and Barcelona.

She plays on a violin by Nicolò Gagliano, made in 1745.