Live In Studio A: Irina Kulikova

Classical guitar virtuoso Irina Kulikova, 37, grew up in an artistic Russian family: her mother is a cellist and a now-retired music teacher; her father is a photographer. Irina got her first guitar at age five. By the time she was eight, she’d had her first public performance. At 12, she was a child star playing all across Russia and at festivals in Europe. When she was 14, her name appeared in Maurice Summerfield’s esteemed reference book, The Classical Guitar: Its Evolution, Players and Personalities Since 1800.Today, Irina Kulikova tours internationally at leading festivals in Europe, North America, and Asia, and at many of the world’s great concert hall. She has received over 30 awards for her artistry, and has recorded four solo CDs, three of them distributed worldwide on the Naxos label.The Russian guitar virtuoso will be performing Saturday, February 1 at 8pm at the Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall at UMBC, one of a series of concerts sponsored by the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society.Today, Irina Kulikova joins us Live in Studio A with a preview of Saturday's performance.On her playlist: Frederic Chopin’s Vals No.7; Francisco Tarrega’s gavotte Maria; and Federico Moreno-Torroba’s Allegretto from his Sonatina in A-major.We live-streamed this segment on WYPR’s Facebook page. Watch the video here.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.