Maria Krykov was born in Helsinki to a Finnish-Russian family and began playing the double bass at the early age of six at the East Helsinki Music School under the guidance of Lasse Lagercrantz.
She is currently studying at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin with Matthew McDonald and serves as the co-principal double bassist of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. She is a laureate of numerous international competitions, including those in Markneukirchen, Brno (The Leoš Janáček International Competition), the J. M. Sperger Competition, and Ankara, and was a semifinalist in the prestigious ARD International Music Competition. In 2019, she won the 1st Prize at the Giovanni Bottesini International Competition in Italy.
As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras such as the Munich Chamber Orchestra and the Baden-Baden Philharmonic, and has collaborated with leading ensembles including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. She regularly appears at international festivals, and her artistic achievements have been recognized with an award from the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation, as well as the title of Finnish Double Bassist of the Year.