Born in 1971 in Moscow. She studied at the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory, at the age of twelve she made her debut with the orchestra in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, performing Kabalevsky's Third Concerto under the baton of the author. Subsequently, she studied at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the National Conservatory in Paris, then at the Cleveland Institute of Music (Ohio, USA). Her teachers were Vladimir Krainev, Nikolay Petrov, Sergey Babayan.

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The international career of the artist began in 1989 after a successful performance at the Marguerite Long and Jacques Thibaud competition in Paris (3rd prize and Audience Award). Later, Scanavi won the Maria Callas competition in Athens (Grand Prix) and Van Clyburn in Fort Worth. The pianist's performances were held at the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Tokyo's Suntory Hall, the La Scala theater in Milan, the Salle Pleyel and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.

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She took part in Gidon Kremer festivals in Lokenhaus (Austria), Pablo Casals festivals in Prada (Spain), Schleswig-Holstein (Germany), Stavanger and Oslo (Norway), La Roque d'Antherone (France). She has performed with leading orchestras and famous musicians, including Yehudi Menuhin, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Kurt Mazur, Saulius Sondeckis, Viktor Tretyakov, Maxim Vengerov, Truls Merck, Eri Klas, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Vladimir Fedoseev. She toured the USA, Australia, Europe and Asia.

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The pianist's discography includes several albums released mainly by Lyrinx. Recordings of compositions by Schumann, Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Chopin received critical acclaim, and a disc of Chopin's music, released under the Pro Piano label, was named "Best Classical Disc of the Month" by Gramophone magazine.