Svetlana Makarova was born in Moscow in 1981. She started playing the violin at the age of five in a class led by celebrated Russian artist, Ludmila Egorova. At the early age of ten, she won First Prize at the Moscow International Youth Tchaikovsky Competition.

Hereafter, she won many more esteemed prizes at numerous state and international competitions. In 2005, Makarova graduated the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and in 2008 finished her postgraduate studies with Professor M. Glezarova.

Presently, she performs in concerts as a soloist and as a member of different chamber ensembles. From 2008 to 2011, she was second violin in the Orchestra Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofia (Spain), where principal conductors were Maestri L. Maazel, and Z. Mehta. Furthermore, she has recorded solo and chamber works reflecting a repertoire, including Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and Schönberg.

Since 2003, Makarova is a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra, and the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra since 2006. Here, she has been collaborating with many prestigious musicians, such as J. Levine, V. Gergiev, M. T. Thomas, Y. Bashmet, D. Sitkovetsky, M. Vengerov, Y. Temirkanov, among many more. She participates in different Festivals, such as Verbier Music Festival (Switzerland), Miyazaki Music Festival (Japan), Musical Spring (Moldova), Musical Festival in LA (USA), Eilat Chamber Music Festival (Israel), Festival “Paganiniana” (Italy), and more.

From 2005-2008, Makarova taught at the famous Gnessin’s Music College in Moscow. Subsequently, she was invited by Pavel Vernikov to collaborate with him in numerous masterclasses in Italy, Israel, and Austria. Since 2010, she has been teaching at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy. Until 2013, she worked as Pavel Vernikov’s assistant at the Haut Ecole de Musique de Lausanne (site de Sion) in Switzerland, and with many masterclasses in Europe and Asia.

Since 2014, she has been a violin professor at the Haut Ecole de Musique de Lausanne in Switzerland. She plays a violin by Nicola Gagliano, made in 1738.