Jordanka Milkova

Following her successful house debut as Carmen at the Semperoper Dresden and the National Opera in Prague in 2022, Jordanka Milkova will return to the Semperoper Dresden as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel during the 2023/24 season. Additionally, in the fall of 2023, she made her debut at the Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari as Venus in Wagner’s Tannhäuser. This season at the Theater Magdeburg, the mezzo-soprano will perform as Fata Morgana in Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges.

Her future engagements in the summer of 2024 include a return to the Schlossoper Haldenstein in Graubünden, Switzerland, where she will make her role debut as Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana. In the 2024/25 season, Milkova will take on the role of Filipievna in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at Bühnen Bern. She will also perform in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, conducted by Johannes Schläfli, at KKL Lucerne and the Tonhalle Zürich.

Milkova has been a guest performer at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland for three seasons, where she also made a successful debut as Ortrud under the baton of Philippe Auguin. Subsequently, she was invited to the Hong Kong Arts Festival for the same role. At the International May Festival in Wiesbaden, she performed the role of Venus alongside Klaus Florian Vogt as Tannhäuser.

Her extensive repertoire includes major mezzo roles such as Carmen, Dalila, Eboli, Amneris, Ulrica, Marfa, Klytemnestra, Jezibaba, the Foreign Princess, trouser roles such as Nicklausse, Ascanio, the Composer, Annio, Hansel, as well as Fenena, Suzuki, Maddalena, Dorabella, Erda, and many others. As a concert singer, she regularly performs masterpieces including Verdi's Requiem, Mozart's Requiem, Mahler's Symphonies Nos. II, III, and VIII, Alma Mahler's Seven Songs, Dvorak's Stabat Mater, Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, Berlioz's Les Nuits d'été, Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer, and Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder.

Several critics from the magazine "Opernwelt" nominated Jordanka Milkova as "best young artist" for her portrayal of Amneris.

The mezzo-soprano completed her vocal training at the Music Academy in her hometown of Sofia. She graduated with honors from the Swiss Opera Studio at the University of the Arts Bern, simultaneously taking on significant roles at the Biel-Solothurn Ensemble Theater. She later joined the city theater in Pforzheim and, a few years later, became a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Nürnberg, where she developed a substantial repertoire in the mezzo range. This led to engagements on opera and concert stages across Europe, including performances at the Helsinki Music Center, Tampere Hall in Finland, Tonhalle Zürich, KKL Lucerne, Casino Basel, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Philharmonie Sofia, National Opera Sofia, Aalto Theater Essen, Theater Basel, Théâtre National du Luxembourg, Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, Teatro Comunale Luciano Pavarotti di Modena, Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Opera House Halle, Augsburg, Freiburg i.Br., Theater am Revier Gelsenkirchen, Theater Lübeck, Bühnen Bern, Theater Lucerne, Opéra-Théâtre de Metz Métropole, Oper im Steinbruch in St. Margarethen in Austria, and Murten Classics.