Maria Varakina was born in the year 2008 in the city of Saint Petersburg. She received her early musical education at the Secondary Specialized Music School of the Saint Petersburg State Conservatory named after Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov, where she studied under the instruction of teacher Anna Rychkova. Since the year 2019, she has been a student at the Central Music School – Academy of Performing Arts, where she is studying under the guidance of teacher Mira Marchenko.
She has received awards at international competitions:
2022
- the First Prize at the XII International Piano Competition “Inspiration” named after Alexey Skavronsky (Volgodonsk).
2023
- the First Prize at the VI Moscow International Festival of Young Pianists named after Heinrich Gustavovich Neuhaus (Moscow);
- the First Prize at the III International Competition for Young Musicians “My Russia: A Musical Journey” (Moscow).
2025
- the winner of the VI Moscow International Piano Competition named after Vladimir Krainev.
She is a scholarship holder of the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation. She is also a scholarship recipient of the SoundOut Foundation and a recipient of the “Achievement” Award (Moscow).
She maintains an active concert career. She has performed with the Symphony Orchestra of the State Academic Capella (conductor Alexander Chernushenko), the Rostov Academic Symphony Orchestra (conductor Anton Shaburov), the Academic Symphony Orchestra named after Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (conductor Alexey Artyomyev), and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia (conductor Ivan Nikiforchin).
