Irina Kulikova

With a large array of prestigious awards and highly acclaimed performances on renowned festivals, Irina Kulikova is considered one of the most gifted musicians on classical guitar. She is well known for the depth of her interpretations and the rare spectrum of colours she evokes. Irina Kulikova has the capacity of fully opening up to music, dragging audiences around the world with her into a most profound and enchanting experience.

Irina Kulikova was born in Chelyabinsk, the capital of South-Ural, Russia. Under the guidance of her mother – cellist Vinera Kulikova – she started developing her musicianship from the earliest age. At twelve, she was already travelling around Russia and abroad for gala-concerts and festivals. At fourteen, she was included in the book “The Classical Guitar, its evolution, players and personalities since 1800” by Maurice Summerfield.

Ever since this early recognition, Irina has caught the attention of leading guitarists, critics and audiences around the world. She has given concerts in twenty five countries, performing as a soloist, in a variety of ensembles and with a number of orchestra’s.

The experts’ appreciation has been underlined with numerous awards on prestigious international guitar competitions, culminating with five 1st prizes in 2008:
# ‘Michele Pittaluga’, Alessandria, Italy
# ‘Guitarra Alhambra’, Valencia, Spain
# ‘Forum Gitarre Wien’, Austria
# “International Guitar competition Iserlohn’, Germany
# “Scharpach Guitar competition”, The Netherlands.
In the same year, she was awarded the ‘Young talent, Culture and Podia’ award in The Netherlands.

Between 2008 and 2010, Irina Kulikova was invited for concerts, master classes and adjudication on festivals in 15 different countries, including ‘Musical Olympus’ in St.-Petersburg, ‘Luigi Legnani’ in Italy, Naxos in Greece, ‘J.K. Mertz’ in Bratislava, Slovakia, Niksiç in Montenegro, Esztergom in Hungary (the oldest guitarfestival in the world), Split in Croatia, Rencontre de Guitare Classique in Nice, France, ‘Guitarra Alhambra’, Spain, and Saltillo in Mexico.

Highlights for 2010 – 2011 will be two new CD-recordings with the Naxos label (including a CD with Russian composers),concert tours in Canada and the USA, a concert with the State Symphony Orchestra “New Russia” at the VI Moscow International Festival “The Guitar Virtuosos” in the Tchaikovsky Hall and a concert at the XXth anniversary of the Iserlohn Guitar Symposium in Germany.

# Irina Kulikova graduated with distinction at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg (Austria), the Gnessins Academy in Moscow (Russia) and the Conservatoire of Maastricht (The Netherlands).

Recent awards

First prizes:
# Michele Pittaluga, Alessandria, Italy, 2008
# Guitarra Alhambra, Valencia, Spain, 2008
# Forum Gitarre Wien, Austria, 2008
# International Guitarcompetition Iserlohn, Germany, 2008
# Twents Gitaarfestival, The Netherlands, 2008
# International Guitarfestival of Coria, Spain, 2006

Second prizes:
# International Guitarfestival Naxos, Greece, 2007
# Norba Caesarina”, Caceres, Spain, 2007
# Ivor Mairants Guitar Award”, London, England, 2006

Third prize:
# ‘Printemps de la Guitare’, Charleroi, Belgium, 2006

Stipendium:
# Young talent, Culture and Podium prize, The Netherlands, 2008