Born in Russia, Irina Konovalov received her Masters and Doctoral Degree at the Novosibirsk Conservatory of Music. She joined the piano faculty in 1981 and was a member there for ten years. While in Russia, Irina performed a number of solo recitals, chamber concerts, and was a soloist with the Novosibirsk and Kemerovo Symphony Orchestras. During this time she wrote several music research papers about piano technique and the Russian piano repertoire.
In 1991 Irina and her family immigrated to Israel, where she taught piano at the Jerusalem Conservatory.