Nizhnikova was born in Samara on 9 March 1925.[1] She was a soprano opera singer and a singing teacher.[2] Nizhnikova attended the Moscow Conservatory, and sang in a church choir before joining what later became National Opera and Ballet of Belarus.[1] During World War II (the Great Patriotic War), she worked in a medical team assisting the wounded.[1]
Her roles included Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Martha in The Tsar’s Bride, and Violetta in La Traviata.[1] She performed internationally in Sweden, Austria, Mongolia, and Canada.[3]
Prior to her retirement in 1976, Nizhnikova was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, and named a People's Artist of the USSR. She later received the Order of Friendship of Peoples, and the Order of Francysk Skaryna.[4][5][1] In 2015, President Alexander Lukashenko described her as a "wonderful singer with outstanding talent and artistic individuality" and thanked her for "promot[ing] Belarusian singing art in the country and abroad".[3]
Nizhnikova died aged 92 on 15 February 2018.[1] The Bolshoi Theatre of Belarus performed The Barber of Seville in her honour on 11 March 2025, to mark what would have been her one hundredth birthday.[6]
