Maria Nikolova

Laureate of the eighteenth of Raina Kabaivanska's international master classes, Maria Nikolova sang in the galas that followed it — at the Sofia Opera and at the State Opera Burgas, in September and October 2018 — in programmes of Mozart, Donizetti, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Puccini, Bizet and Saint-Saëns. She was twenty-one at the time and was taking part in the master class for the first time. Born and brought up in Bulgaria, she was based in Russia when she joined the 2018 course, and she appeared in the Burgas gala as a scholarship holder of the Raina Kabaivanska Fund. A review of that year's class noted the clarity of her high register and how quickly she could learn and deliver a new aria.