She graduated from the Saratov State Sobinov Conservatory in 1968.
In 1966–1967 she was a soloist with the symphony orchestra of the Saratov Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre. From 1968 to 1981 she taught and then headed the Wind and Percussion Department in Blagoveshchensk, and during this period she also took part in tours with wind ensembles in the Russian Far East.
Since 1981 she has served as director of a Music School in Moscow. From 1982 she has taught, and since 1987 she has headed the Wind and Percussion Department of the Music College named after the October Revolution. After the college was reorganised as the Schnittke College she continued to lead the department until 2016.
Since 1991 she has taught in the Wind Instruments Department of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, and since 2012 she has headed the department.
V. I. Degtyareva regularly serves as a member and chair of juries at music competitions and gives masterclasses in Russian cities (Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk, Vladimir, Tver, Ryazan, Voronezh, Alushta) and abroad (Hanover, Belgrade). She has trained around 40 laureates of Russian and international music competitions, and her graduates regularly appear at Russian music festivals.
Students of V. I. Degtyareva hold solo positions in prestigious orchestras in Russia and worldwide, including the Russian National Orchestra, the orchestras of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich‑Danchenko Music Theatre, the Osipov Orchestra, Novaya Opera, the Orpheus Radio Symphony Orchestra, various military bands and ensembles in France, the USA and Taiwan.
V. I. Degtyareva is an invited chair of state examination boards at the Gnesin Moscow Special School of Music, the Saratov Conservatory and the music colleges of Tver, Ryazan, Voronezh and other cities.
V. I. Degtyareva is the author of articles and scholarly works on performance practice published in the journals «Vestnik of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music» and «Sobesednik», and has developed curricula for the courses «Principal Instrument», «Sight‑Reading», «Study of Related Instruments» and «Teaching Practice».
