I started to play the piano between the ages of 6-7 in Latvia. My mom played, and I started to learn the traditions of the unique Russian school of piano playing on her old Soviet upright. I soon decided to continue my training at the selective Stanislava Broka Muzikas Vidusskola (specialist music school in Daugavpils - the birth town of the well-known abstract painter Mark Rothko...and me). At the age of 15, I have won the 3rd Latvian National Competition for Young Pianists in Latvia.
In 2010 I have moved to London and soon began my undergraduate studies at Goldsmiths College under Andrew Zolinsky and Danny Driver taking occasional lessons at the Royal College of Music. In 2016 I started my MA in Music Education and Piano Performance under Tim Palmer and Sergio de Simone at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. In early 2017, I have performed Dorothy Howell's Piano Concerto with Goldsmiths Sinfonia, collaborated and competed with soprano Heloise Werner and played celeste for Trinity Laban Symphony Orchestra. Upon graduating I have been offered to hold residency at Colfe's school 2017-2018 and became first graduate musician in the school's history.
After my residency year, I have moved to Cambridge to train as a classroom practitioner and learn what it means to be a good educator at Homerton College, University of Cambridge while continuing to teach, perform and accompany in London and Italy. In 2020, I have returned to Cambridge seeking to improve my research skills and critical thinking at postgraduate level and matriculated at Wolfson College to study Education. Since then I have published a short critical commentary on teaching and learning with technology in the 21st century through Academia Letters.
I have formerly held an assistantship to Prof. Liam Gearon, David Johnson, and currently assist Prof. Steven Puttick (Department of Education, University of Oxford) on Education Research and Innovation programme working with postgraduate students from Sichuan Normal University (China) through East West Education Group.
My current teaching posts include Colfe's School and St. Olave's Prep School. I also enjoy teaching privately through my practice KOVA ED - formerly generously supported by the Prince's Trust and NatWest Bank. Most recently, I became an examiner for the International Baccalaureate Music Diploma and moderator for Edexcel International GCSE Music and BTEC Tech Awards, and joined the piano teaching team at James Allen's Saturday School for the Performing Arts (JASSPA). I am a regular volunteer-mentor at Project Access for University of Cambridge/Oxford prospects.
