At the XVIII century pianoforte was an expensive novelty whereas harpsichord was a common musical instrument; so musicians chose harpsichord to start learning how to play. Nowadays it is vice versa: cembalo is expensive and rare so that the majority of performers begin their career with the piano. It happened to Olga Martynova as well, though she is an honoured graduate of Moscow Conservatoire from both piano and harpsichord classes.

As she says, the final decision to focus on historical performances was taken after she was present at the concert of Hopkinson Smith (the well-known performer on historical plucking instruments) in France. His master-classes also produced an amazing impression on her, seriously changing her understanding of early music. Olga continued her education in France and graduated from Ecole Nationale de Musique de Bobigny with a gold medal. Her European success continued; she won two prestigious international competitions: Van Wassenaer competition (the Netherlands) and Premio Bonporti (Italy), was invited to perform numerous recitals and had wonderful European tours playing the harpsichord and pianoforte.

Now Olga Martynova is one of the most recognized harpsichordists in Russia. She performs with Pratum Integrum orchestra, Moscow Baroque and A la Russe ensembles and teaches at Moscow Conservatoire and in Gnesin Special Musical School sometimes rejecting recital projects to dedicate more time to her students.