Collective

Born in Leningrad, since childhood she showed a special interest and love for music. At the age of seven, she became acquainted with the domra in a folk instrument circle led by L.G. Mikhrina. Three years later she entered class G. M. Savchenko of the St. Petersburg Children's School of Arts named after G.V. Sviridov. After finishing school, she continued her musical education at the State Music College named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov under the direction of I.I. Shurygina. Maria Gafarova sang in St. Petersburg as a soloist and in numerous groups when she was a student, and she was frequently named a winner of international contests.

She was accepted into the small domras group of the State Academic Russian Orchestra named after V.V. Andreev in 1998 while a student in the Honored Artist of Russia class of Professor A.V. Makarov at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov in her first year of study.