Valentine Goncharova

Valentine Goncharova (b. 1953, Kyiv) is a Ukrainian violinist who began music education at the age of three under the instruction of her grandmother. Six years later she took up the violin, an instrument that has remained central to her practice ever since. She studied at the Leningrad special musical school from 1969 to 1971, then at the Leningrad Conservatory under Professor M.I. Vajman from 1971 to 1976, followed by postgraduate study under professor B.L. Gutnikov from 1980 to 1983.

She has had a distinguished career as a concert soloist, serving as soloist of various Philharmonic societies — in Ulan-Ude from 1976 to 1977, in Tver from 1978 to 1983, and in Tallinn from 1985 to 1991.