Svetlana Kuznetsova graduated with honours in 1992 from the L. V. Sobinov Saratov State Conservatory, where she studied with People’s Artist of Russia, Professor N. K. Tarasova.
While still a final‑year student she was invited to join the Saratov Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, where she was a soloist from 1991 to 1998.
Her operatic roles there included:
- Violetta (Verdi «La Traviata»);
- Rosina (Rossini «Il barbiere di Siviglia»);
- Manon (Massenet «Manon»);
- Susanna (Mozart «Le nozze di Figaro»);
- Gilda (Verdi «Rigoletto»), among others.
Her touring career has taken her to Russian cities including Moscow, Samara, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, and Yekaterinburg, as well as to France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Poland, South Korea, and the USA.
She has appeared at many Russian and international festivals, among them:
- the Sobinin Music Festival (Saratov);
- the «Semaines musicales de Quimper» International Festival (France);
- the «Golden Autumn in the Kremlin» International Music Festival (Moscow);
- the «In Ensemble with the Organ» music festival (Saratov);
- the Moscow Easter Festival; «Russian Winter in Dallas» (USA).
From 1996 to 1999 she was engaged by the Orchestre Philharmonique Européen association in Paris as a regular guest soloist.
Since 2000 she has been a soloist with the A. Schnittke Saratov Regional Philharmonic.
Her chamber programmes and performances with the philharmonic’s Academic Symphony Orchestra consistently attract keen audience interest, and her repertoire encompasses Russian and Western classics, art songs, and works by contemporary composers.
During these years she also combined her artistic work with administrative duties as Director of the Saratov branch of the Russian Culture Foundation.
In 2004 she was awarded the honorary title «Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation» for her services to musical art.
From 2003 to 2009 Svetlana Kuznetsova served as Associate Professor in the Academic Singing Department of the Sobinov Saratov State Conservatory, and from 2009 to 2015 as Associate Professor in the Solo Academic Singing Department of the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music.
Since 2015 she has been a Professor in Solo Singing Department No. 2 at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music.
Alongside her teaching she collaborates with leading ensembles, including the State Academic Sveshnikov Chorus, the Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory, and the Nekrasov State Academic Folk Instruments Orchestra.
She regularly appears in chamber programmes and has a particular affinity for the organ, frequently performing organ‑voice recitals both in Russia and abroad.
Kuznetsova is a jury member at numerous Russian and international competitions and festivals in the academic vocal category.
She gives lectures on the history of performance, leads masterclasses, and participates in research and practical conferences on the training and artistic development of young performers.
Her publications include a number of articles and papers, such as:[3]
- «The Role of Music and Singing in the Spiritual Life of the Individual» (2012);
- «Basic Methodological Principles of 19th‑Century Italian, French, and German Vocal Schools» (2015);
- «The Origins, Formation, and Development of the Russian Vocal School from the 17th Century to the First Half of the 19th Century» (2016);
- «Traditions of the Western‑European Performance Schools of Italy, France, and Germany» (2016);
- «The Formation and Development of the Russian Vocal School in the 17th–18th Centuries» (2016);
- «‘What Is Truly Lovely in Him Is Indeed Lovely...’: Chamber Lyricism in the Work of A. S. Arensky» (2017).
