Svetlana Ovsyannikova was born in Chișinău. She graduated from the E. Coca Specialized Secondary Music School in Chisinau with a gold medal, then from the P.I.Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (violin classes of Professor Zarius Shakhmurzayeva, chamber ensemble classes of Professors Alexander Bonduryansky and Tatiana Gaydamovich) followed by assistantship-internship there (Professor Alexander Melnikov's classes).
She had played in various chamber ensembles, in the Moscow Conservatory Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Cherkasov and in the Russian Camerata Chamber Orchestra directed by Vyacheslav Trushin.
In 1992-2002, she was a member of the Philharmonia of the Nations Orchestra conducted by Justus Frantz.
Since 2003 – an artist of the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia.