Violinist Lara Lev lives now in Helsinki, Finland. She was born in Siberia, in the former USSR. Lara Lev studied in the Kazan Special Musical School with Prof. Vadim Afanasiev, and later in the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnesin Institute of Music. In 1977, Ms. Lev graduated there with highest honors, receiving a special Artist Diploma. Her teachers in Moscow were Prof. Jurij Yankelevich and Vladimir Spivakov. In 1981, Ms. Lev won First Prize in the Violin Competition of the Russian Federation.