Ivanka Ninova graduated from the State Academy of Music in Sofia in the class of Lilia Stefanova. During her studies she was a soloist of the Bulgarian Philharmonic Choir "Svetoslav Obretenov".
She made her professional debut on the stage of the Sofia Opera in the role of Princess Eboli from the opera "Don Carlo" by G. Verdi and after her successful performance she was appointed soloist. She performs the central mezzo-soprano repertoire, which includes the roles: Preziosila from "La Forza del Destino", Amneris from "Aida", Azucena from "Il Trovatore", Fenena from "Nabucco", Federica from "Luisa Miller" by G. Verdi; Princess de Bouillon from "Adriana Lecouvreur" by Cilea; Suzuki from "Madama Butterfly" by Puccini; Carmen from the opera of the same name by Bizet; Marcellina and Cherubino from "Le Nozze di Figaro" by Mozart; The Koumanian Zoya from "Tsar Kaloyan" by Pancho Vladigerov and others.
Ivanka Ninova has a rich cantata-oratorio repertoire. She took part in the first performances for Bulgaria of Dvořák's "Requiem", Britton's "Spring Symphony", "Songs" by Ikuma Dan, Symphony No.2 by Tapkov.
She has toured with great success abroad and is a frequent guest at the opera houses in Bulgaria, as well as of the Sofia Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, the Philharmonic of Ruse, Plovdiv, Pleven, Vratsa, Vidin, Stara Zagora.
She has been a guest at Bulgarian and international music festivals, including "Katya Popova Laureate Days", "March Music Days", "Sofia Music Weeks", "April Spring" – Pyongyang, "Maria Bieșu Invites" – Chisinau.
She sang under the direction of the best Bulgarian conductors: Ruslan Raychev, Boris Hinchev, Ivan Marinov, Nedyalko Nedyalkov, Emil Tabakov, Nayden Todorov, Georgi Dimitrov, Georgi Notev, Milen Nachev, Mihail Angelov, Metodi Matakiev, as well as Giorgio Croci, Ion Ianku, Joseph Vella, Eraldo Salmieri and others. She has worked with a number of prominent stage directors such as Peter Shtarbanov, Emil Boshnakov, Plamen Kartaloff, Lucien Delacroix, Maurizio Marchini, Joseph Bascetta and others.
She has studio recordings in "Mega Music", "Gega New", IMO, as well as BNR and Radio Lugano, Switzerland.
In parallel with her performing activity, Ivanka Ninova is also actively involved in pedagogical activities.
Since 1992, she has been teaching singing at the Pancho Vladigerov State Academy of Music.
At the XI International Competition for Young Opera Singers Ivanka Ninova was the youngest pedagogue to present her student – Petya Petrova. She was awarded the First prize and a Gold medal.
She has given master classes at the Gavriil Musicescu Academy, Chisinau, Moldova, and in Seoul, South Korea.
