Under the guidance of Victor Kozlov and her mother – cellist Vinera Kulikova – she started developing her musicianship from the earliest age.

[2] The experts’ appreciation of her interpretations is underlined by numerous awards on prestigious international guitar competitions, culminating with five 1st prizes in 2008: Michele Pittaluga in Italy, Guitarra Alhambra in Spain, Forum Gitarre Wien in Austria, the International Guitar competition Iserlohn in Germany and the 'Twents Gitaarfestival'[6] in the Netherlands, 2008.

[2] Irina Kulikova graduated with distinction at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg (Austria), the Gnessins Academy in Moscow (Russia) and the Conservatoire of Maastricht (The Netherlands).

In 2005, Irina Kulikova recorded her first solo CD, with works of Legnani, Mertz, Barríos Mangoré, Sor, Moreno-Torroba, Aguado and Rodrigo.

In 2009, she released her second solo CD, in the Laureate Series of Naxos (as winner of the Michele Pittaluga competition in 2008), with works by Ponce, Tansman, Brouwer and José María Gallardo Del Rey.