Irma Skenderi was born in Tirana (Albania). She started her musical education at the age of six, graduating in viola at the Jordan Misja Conservatory in 1992. She finished her viola course with the highest classification at the Academia Delle Belle Arti (Tirana) with professor Arben Llozi. In 1994 she continued her improvement studies at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole with professors Piero Farulli and Amadeo Baldovino, and at the Accademia Chigiana with professor Ricardo Brengola, where she obtained with the Trio di Tirana two “Diplomi di merit” (1995-96) and an “Honour Diploma” (1997). In 1996 she won with the same formation the special jury prize at the International Chamber Music Competition of Caltanisetta. She has worked with prestigious masters in the field of Chamber Music, such as the Alban Berg Quartet and the Prague Quartet. She has given chamber music concerts and solo concerts in Albania, Italy, Greece, Portugal, France, Austria and Malta. She lives in Portugal since 1998. Until 2004 she worked as soloist B in Orquestra Filarmonia das Beiras. She has collaborated with several other orchestras such as Orquestra Clássica da Madeira, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Remix Ensemble Casa da Música, Orchestra del Maggio Fiorentino, Remix Orquestra and Orquestra Gulbenkian.

Since September 2005 she is Soloist B of the Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa. In the same orchestra, she held the post of Head of Viola Naipe between the years 2011 and 2017. In July 2014, she participated in the public auditions of the Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence (Italy), and since then she has been regularly invited as Soloist A and as Prima Viola, performing, among others, with conductors Fabio Luisi, Daniel Cohen, Carlo Rizzi and Daniele Gatti, and with soloists Maurizio Baglini and Aldo Ciccolini.

She has taught in the Viseu Regional Conservatory, in the Loures Arts Conservatory and in the Generation Orchestra Project.

Currently, she teaches at the Nossa Senhora de Cabo Music School (Linda Velha).