Born in St. Petersburg, Valentina Svyatlovskaya received her first violin lessons at the age of five. She entered the St. Petersburg Conservatoire five years later in the class of Lev Ivashenko, continuing her studies with Mikhail Gantwarg and with Alexander Stang and graduating in 2007. In the same year, she completed the Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland, after six years of studies with Alberto Lysy and Liviu Prunaru.
On many occasions she performed as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia, as well as touring Sweden, England and Germany.
In Russia, the violinist was awarded first prize at Virtuosi of the Year 2000 and was a prize winner at the Mravinsky International Competition for Youth. In 2002 she won the Renata Molinari International Violin Competition in Gstaad. She was second prize winner at the Valsesia Musicale Violin Competition in Italy, and at the Rodolpho Lipizer Competition she won the second prize as well as special prizes for her performances of Mozart and Khatchaturian concertos.
Svyatlovskaya was the only classical player to be selected by the Little Dreams Foundation in Geneva, co-founded by pop musician Phil Collins. She was a finalist of the International Violin Competition in Geneva (2004) and participated in the Indianapolis Violin Competition (2006).
In October 2007, Mrs Svyatlovskaya joined the first violins of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. She is also an active member of the Tharice Virtuosi formed by alumni of the Menuhin Academy.
She was awarded a special prize for the best Enescu sonata performance at the George Enescu Competition in Romania in 2009, and qualified as a semifinalist both at the Indianapolis Violin Competition (2010) and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels (2011).
In 2014 she released a CD with Eugène Ysaÿe’s six solo sonatas.
Mrs. Svyatlovskaya plays an Andrea Guarneri dated 1676, graciously offered to her on loan by Janine Aebi.