Valeria Kafelnikov

Born in Kiev, Valeria Kafelnikov began her musical training in Saint Petersburg, before continuing her studies at the Paris Conservatoire (CNSMDP), then at the Lyon Conservatoire (CNSMDL), under the tuition of Isabelle Moretti and Fabrice Pierre. It was there that she made the decisive encounter with Pierre Boulez and György Kurtág during master classes.

Harp soloist with the Siècles orchestra since its creation in 2003, she is passionate about the history of performance and historical instruments. At the same time, she has developped an important soloist activity (invited notably by the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées, under the direction of Louis Langrée, Kazuki Yamada, Lars Vogt, Hervé Niquet…) and as a chamber musician, in venues such as the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Opéra de Lille or the Auditorium of the Musée d’Orsay.

In 2019, she joined the Ensemble intercontemporain, working closely with composers such as Mark André, Liza Lim, Mikel Urquiza and Claire-Mélanie Sinnhuber, under the baton of Matthias Pintscher, Enno Poppe, Pierre Bleuse, and many others. She has also given numerous premieres with the Béla Quartet and taken part in interdisciplinary projects, notably at the Ruhr Triennale with Rosa Wernecke (video), Heinrich Horwitz (stage direction) and Sarah Nemtsov (music).

Valeria Kafelnikov teaches at the National Conservatoire of Paris, and at Pôle Sup’ 93. She regularly gives masterclasses in France, Germany and the United States.