Ekaterina Gubanova trained as a Choir Master at the College of the Moscow Conservatoire. She then entered the conservatoire?s opera department where she studied for two years with Larissa Nikitina. In 2000, she was invited to join the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki where she has studied for two years with proffessor Liisa Linko-Malmio. During training, Ekaterina Gubanova appeared with the Helsinki State Orchestra singing the Erste Magd Elektra and then in the autumn of 2001 she sang Marina Mnishek Boris Godunov with the Estonian National Opera where returned in February 2003 for further performances of this role.
In September 2002 she became the youngest member of the Vilar Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and that autumn she sang her first role there, Flora in Verdi?s La traviata. Future roles in the 2002/03 season at Covent Garden included the Third Lady in Mozart?s Die Zauberflote and the Second Maid in Strauss?s Elektra. Cover engagements for this same season include Suzuki in Puccini?s Madama Butterfly, Margaret in Berg?s Wozzeck and Frederica in Verdi?s Luisa Miller. For the 2003/04 season at Covent Garden she sang performances as Suzuki Madama Butterfly, the Hostess in Mussorgsky?s Boris Godunov; Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor and Bianca Britten?s The Rape of Lucretia. She also covered Marina in Boris Godunov, Guilietta in Les Contes d?Hoffmann and the Dryad in Ariadne auf Naxos.
In February 2003 she opened the Prokofiev season with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester as soloist in Prokofiev?s Alexander Nevsky Cantata, conducted by Sir Edward Downes. August 2003 saw her invited for this same work, Prokofiev?s Alexander Nevsky Cantata, at the BBC Proms with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Daniele Gatti and in 2004 she sang the work with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2005, she has sung Mahler?s Das Lied von der Erde with the Sinfonia Varsovia and the Irish National Symphony Orchestra. She also worked with them on Lili Boulanger?s Faust et Helene after doing Sibelius?s Kullervo with the Finnish Radio Symphony.
Following her time at the Young Artists Programme at Covent Garden, in 2005, aged 25 Ekaterina Gubanova has sung the Third Lady in Mozart?s Die Zauberflote, Emilia in Verdi?s Otello. And she sung at Opera National de Paris: Brangane in Wagner?s Tristan und Isolde, Suzuki Madama Butterfly and Nicklausse Les Contes d?Hoffmann. 2005 saw Ekaterina Gubanova at the Theater Saint Gallen in Switzerland where she sang the role of Adalgisa in Bellini?s Norma. In summer 2005, she made her debut at the Salzburg Festival as the Third Lady in a new production of Mozart?s Die Zauberflote, role that she will sing again next summer. In 2006, she will also be Flosshilde in the new production of Das Rheingold, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle at the Festival d?Aix en Provence.