She graduated from the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music in piano in 2000 (class of Professor T. M. Rusanova) and completed the assistant traineeship in collaborative piano in 2002 (class of Professor S. F. Margaritov).
She has worked as accompanist in the chamber singing class of Professor N. Yu. Yureneva.
Since 2002 she has been an accompanist at the Kolobov Novaya Opera Theatre of Moscow.
She has worked with conductors Eri Klas, Jan Latham-Koenig, Andrey Samoilov, Felix Chizhevsky, Dmitri Jurowski, Felix Korobov, Konstantin Durgaryan and others.
As principal accompanist she has prepared numerous opera productions, including the Russian premieres of Verdi’s «Stiffelio», John Adams’s «Doctor Atomic», Korngold’s «Die tote Stadt» and the concert performance of Krzysztof Penderecki’s «St Luke Passion» in the presence of the composer.
She maintains an active concert career in Russia and abroad, presenting original programmes that introduce Russian audiences to rarely performed works (in the 2023–2024 season, concerts devoted to Benjamin Britten and programmes with music by Alexander Zemlinsky, Schreker and Korngold).
Since 2004 she has taught in the Department of Collaborative Piano at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music as a Senior Lecturer.
Her graduates work as accompanists in vocal and instrumental classes at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music, the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Popov Academy of Choral Art, in various Russian cities and in Germany, China, Switzerland and other countries, and their achievements have been recognised with diplomas and prizes.
She is a diploma winner of the International Vocal Competition «Yantarny solovey» («Amber Nightingale»).
Publications:
- Petrova V. A., Sotnikova T. V., «Masterpieces of Bel Canto», anthology for singers and accompanists, Moscow: Buki Vedi, 2016, 150 p., ISBN 978-5-4465-1028-3;
- Petrova V. A., Sotnikova T. V., «On the Work of an Accompanist with a Vocalist: Stylistic Features of Performance and Overcoming Intonational Difficulties in the Bel Canto Repertoire», in: Musical Almanac of Tomsk State University, 2020, No. 9, pp. 94–107, ISSN 2618-8829;
- Petrova V. A., Sotnikova T. V., teaching manual «Repertoire Lists in the Accompaniment Class: Solving Artistic, Stylistic and Technical Tasks», Moscow: Buki Vedi, 2021, 94 p., ISBN 978-5-4465-3174-5.
