Elmira Darvarova started playing the violin at the age of three, and by the age of four she had given her first recital. At age eight, Darvarova made her debut as a soloist. 

Since then, she has studied with Yfrah Neaman, Henryk Szeryng and Josef Gingold. In particular, her performance with legendary cellist Janos Starker was a pivotal moment in her career, as Starker propelled and facilitated Darvarova's escape from her then communist country and her relocation to the United States. Darvarova caused a sensation: she became the first ever female concertmaster in the history of the Metropolitan Opera; toured Europe, Japan and the United States with the MET Orchestra; and she was heard on the MET's live weekly international radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, and CDs. As concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, she has performed with many of the most prominent conductors of all time, including the legendary Carlos Kleiber.

Appearing in concert halls and at festivals on four continents, Darvarova is well-versed in all kinds of genres. She is also no stranger to sharing the stage with giants of the music world such as James Levine, Janos Starker, Gary Karr, and Pascal Rogé. Darvarova has been a concerto soloist with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Columbus Symphony, the Weimar Staatskapelle, the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago, and numerous other orchestras. She has recorded for Naxos, Azur Classical, Delphinium Records, and, most recently, several CDs for Urlicht AudioVisual.

In addition to her career as a soloist, Elmira Darvarova is the founder and leader of the New York Piano Quartet, she performs with the Delphinium Trio, and she is Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Music Festival. The STRAD Magazine has praised her "silky-smooth, voluptuous sound" and her "intoxicating tonal beauty and beguilingly sensuous phrasing," while Gramophone Magazine hailed her "ultra- impassioned, vividly detailed performances."