Evgenia Markova (1987) started playing music when she was 6 years old and chose the domra, a traditional Russian stringed instrument with a very unique sound, somewhere between a lute and a mandolin. From 2002 to 2006 she attended the class of the well-known pedagogue Alina Boguk, with whom she graduated with honors. She then entered the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in Saint Petersburg, graduating in 2012 with Alexander Makarov. Since 2006 she has been playing in the Russian State Orchestra of Saint Petersburg conducted by Vladimir Popov. Evgenia played the mandolin part in performances of the 7th and 8th symphonies by G. Mahler at the Marinsky Theater conducted by Valery Gergiev. Vladimir Kirasirov (1989) received piano lessons from his mother at an early age, but at music school he chose the guitar. Oleg Razumovsky was his teacher. From 2002 he took lessons with Anna Ali at the music lyceum and from 2006 to 2011 with Leonid Karpov at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in Saint Petersburg. Master guitarist Carlo Marchione took him to Maastricht, where he obtained his masters degree in 2013. Vladimir is at home in many genres: classical, jazz, rock, tango and folk. Leader of the chamber orchestra “Continuo”. He has won several regional and (inter)national prizes, both solo and with various ensembles.

Evgenia Markova and Vladimir Kirasirov have been in a duo since 2010.

They continuously work on broadening or deepening their repertoire and make their own arrangements: Renaissance, Baroque and film music, classical, French-Impressionist, Slavic, (jazz) musette and Latin.

Evgenia and Vladimir perform regularly in Saint Petersburg, Riga (Latvia) and Maastricht. They were guests in various European countries, often at the external borders or just beyond: Russia, Finland and Croatia – India too. They usually play there together with regional artists and ensembles.

The domra (Russian: домра) is a stringed instrument from Russia that is used in balalaika orchestras. The instrument is originally a three-stringed instrument and has a convex sound box made from loose trusses.

Source : Lutherse Kerk Podium Website