Olga Martinova was born into a family of musicians in Leningrad. She began playing the violin at the age of five and gave her first public performance at seven. After graduating from a special music school for gifted children, she entered the Leningrad Conservatory, where she graduated from the class of Professor Mikhail Waiman. She then continued her studies with Professor Boris Gutnikov and soon won the All-Russian Music Competition, the All-Union Music Competition and other international competitions.

In 1979 she emigrated to the West. She has toured Europe, USA, Canada, Mexico, Israel and Japan and has participated in many international festivals. Her performances have consistently received “rave” reviews. Olga Martinova has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Concertgebouw, Madrid Hall and St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

As a soloist, she has performed with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Petersburg Soloists Orchestra, as well as symphony orchestras of St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Sofia and Barcelona.

Among the conductors with whom she has performed are Yehudi Menuhin, David Zinman, Hans Wonk, Vasily Sinaisky, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Hartmut Henchen, Anton Kerjes, Tibor and Gilbert Varga, Anthony Ross-Marba, Arnold Katz and Lev Marquis.

Olga Martinova’s chamber music partners include Philippe Hirschhorn, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Pavel Gililov, Alexander Baranchik, Istvan Parkani, Jean-Jacques Kantorov, Mikhail Gantvarg, Mikhail Bezverkhny, Alexander Varenberg, Tatiana Tower and Maurice Burg.

The violinist's repertoire includes more than thirty violin concertos and a significant number of solo and chamber works by European and Russian composers.

From 1996 to 2018 she was a professor at the Rotterdam University of Music. She is also a visiting professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Since 2018 she carries the title of Chief Professor at the Académie Musikè Association in France. She gives master classes in the USA, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Israel and Russia, and continues to be involved in concert activities.