The Macedonian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Ema Nikolovska grew up in Toronto, where she studied singing with Helga Tucker and also studied violin at The Glenn Gould School. She went on to complete a master’s degree in opera singing at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and was a BBC New Generation Artist from 2019 to 2022, appearing in this capacity as a soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
In 2019 she won first prize in the International Vocal Competition in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. From 2019 to 2021 she held a scholarship from the Young Classical Artists Trust.
From 2020 to 2022 Ema Nikolovska was a member of the opera studio of the Berlin State Opera, where she sang roles including Hänsel (Hänsel und Gretel) and Fatima Mansur in Christian Jost’s Die arabische Nacht (The Arabian Night) and appeared in productions of Die Zauberflöte, Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, Jenůfa and Rigoletto.
As a recitalist she has recently appeared at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Wigmore Hall in London, the Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Verbier Festival, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, the Schubertíada in Vilabertran, the Leeds Lieder Festival, the Toronto Summer Music Festival and the Berlin Konzerthaus.
She has worked with artists including Malcolm Martineau, Wolfram Rieger, Graham Johnson, Jonathan Ware, Joseph Middleton and Barry Shiffman.
On the concert platform Ema Nikolovska recently appeared in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Musikkollegium Winterthur under Barbara Hannigan, and in a live recorded concert for the Vancouver Recital Society. In the 2021/22 season she made her debuts at the BBC Proms and with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Barbara Hannigan.
