Our competition advisor, Nina Svetlanova (born in Kiev, Ukraine Ukrainian SSR) is a Russian-American concert pianist and educator. 

Nina Svetlanova have graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in the class of legendary pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus, who she have studied with from the age of 16 to 23 (1948–1955), during a seven-year period. Previeously, she had been a student of Grigory Kogan and Sofia Kogan at the Gnesin Music College, where she studied since the age of five (1937–1948).

Shortly after the graduation from Moscow Conservatory (class of 1955), she became Opera Konzertmeister in the famous Bolshoi Theatre. Later, she became a pianist in the official roster of the Moscow Philharmonic Concert Association, called Moskonzert, which was the main bureau that was responsible for all classical music concerts in the USSR. As a Moskonzert pianist, she toured around the world's most prestegious venues performaning with renowned artists and ensembles. Nina Svetlanova also have earned her reputation as a collaborative artist, being the main pianist to work with Amrenian mezzo-soprano Zara Dolukhanova.

Nina Svetlanova has appointed as an artist faculty of keyboard studies at New York's Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College of Music since the 1970s and is a highly sought-after pedagogue. Nina Svetlanova's students are often recognized by their succesful career and many of her former students are well-known pianists and competition winners.