Olga Rayeva studied with Prof. E. Denissow and others at the International Tschaikowski Conservatory in Moscow from 1989 to 1994. She received her PhD in 1996. Her works were presented to the public early on, for example at the Moscow Fall Music Festival (1991) and the Modern Moscow Festival (1992). Olga Rayeva received numerous awards and scholarships, including two stipends from the Berlin Senate, a residency fellowship at the German Academy Rome, Casa Baldi, as well as the prize of the Hitzacker Internationale Musiktage Hitzacker and the City of Cologne’s Bernd Alois Zimmermann Prize.

Her compositions were presented at many of Europe’s most important festivals (such as Gaudeamus Music Week, Zagreb Biennale, Dresdner Days of Contemporary Music, ISCM World Music Days, Musikprotokoll, Klangspuren, Wittener Days for New Music), as well as in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Korea. Her work has been performed by acclaimed ensembles such as Arditti-Quartet, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, Schönberg-Ensemble, KNM Berlin, United Berlin, Le nouvel Ensemble Modern and Reconsil Vienna. During her stay at Villa Aurora, Olga Rayeva plans to work on a composition for seven instruments.