Born in 1980 in Oldenburg, she studied composition in Hanover and Berlin with Nigel Osborne, Johannes Schöllhorn and Walter Zimmermann. She has received numerous awards and scholarships, including the Busoni Composition Prize of the Berlin Academy of the Arts and Deutsche Musikautorenpreis of the GEMA; she also won the international RicordiLAB composition competition. 

She cooperates with renowned ensembles and orchestras such as HR Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Sinfonieorchester, RSO Vienna, WDR Orchestra, Ensemble Musikfabrik, ensemble modern, ensemble mosaik, Ensemble Adapter, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, ensemble recherche, Klangforum Wien, and Basel Sinfonietta. Her works have been performed at major contemporary music festivals such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music, Wien Modern, Éclat, Ultraschall, Holland Festival, Musica, Bregenz Festival, Munich Biennale, and many more.

Nemtsov’s music captivates through sensitively sounded setups, complex and energetic textures, musical strati cations, interactions between acoustic instruments and electronics, as well as references to other arts and media. In the summer semester of 2014, she taught composition at High School of Music and Dance in Cologne, and in 2018, at Haifa University as a DAAD guest lecturer. In 2021 she was tutor in composition at the Darmstadt Summer Courses. In 2020, she was nominated for the Opus Klassik Prize as Composer of the Year. In 2021 she was elected member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin as well as the Saxon Academy of the Arts. 

Her catalogue comprises more than 100 compositions in numerous genres. Since 2016 most of her works have been published by Ricordi. Die Zeit wrote about her opera SACRIFICE (premiered in 2017 at the Opera House Halle): “Sound becomes space becomes time becomes reality.” Her new opera, OPHELIA (2020–21), to a libretto by Mirko Bonné, will be premiered in 2023 at Saarland State Theatre. 

Selected works: De Yukel à Sarah for voice and ensemble (2006), L’Absence, opera in five acts after Edmond Jabès’s Book of Questions (2006–8), Herzland, chamber opera in five acts based on the letters between Paul and Gisèle Celan (2005–9), Landscapes / Desert for clarinet, cello, harp, harpsichord and percussion (2010), A long way away for ensemble (2011), Lu macumba / Rio for percussion, bass flute, violin, cello, double bass, harp and prepared piano (2011), Laterna magica / Combray for prepared harp, piano, percussion and spinning tops (2011), Hoqueti for six voices and instruments (2011), Treppen im Meer for orchestra (2006–12), Nachstück, Porzellan for pipa, sheng and ensemble (2012), Zimmer I–III for eight musicians (2013), amplified imagination for flute and electronics (2014), SHESH for amplified string orchestra (2014), Orpheus falling for eight musicians and voice ad libitum (2014), White wide eyes for 23 instruments and electronics (2014), PROSPEKT for baritone and ten instruments to poems by Ron Winkler (2014), white eyes erased for keyboard and percussion (2014–15), ALT, a pocket opera for countertenor, actor and amplified ensemble with electronics to words by James Joyce (2015), Briefe für A.G. for eleven string instruments and harpsichord (2015), scattered ways for large orchestra (2015), Journal for amplified ensemble, accordion and sampler (2015), Sacrifice, opera in four acts to a libretto by Dirk Laucke (2016), Or. Towards for six voices, six instruments, objects and lights (2016), dropped.drowned for large orchestra (2017), HAUS for bass flute, bass clarinet, prepared harp, percussion and amplification (2017), dream of a cab for soprano / mezzo-soprano, soprano saxophone, accordion, amplification and tape (2017), Seven Colours for cello, electric bass guitar, prepared piano, percussion and electronics (2018), Orbits, cycle for four electric guitars and electric bass guitar (2018), weggeschliffen for amplified string quartet (2018), [love], piano trio (2018), beyond its simple space for harpsichord and baroque ensemble with electronics (2018), PHONEME, cycle for five voices and six instruments (2018), En face for percussion, narrator and large orchestra (2018), RED, performance (2018–19), NUN for ensemble and electronics (2019), NUN II for piano and electronics (2019), ZIMMER IV for four soloists and electronics (2019), skotom.orchesterstueck for ensemble and electronics (2019), verflucht, miniature opera / monologue for soprano and amplified ensemble to a libretto by Gerhild Steinbuch (2019), Mountain & Maiden for amplified piano and voice (2019), MOOS for ensemble and electronics (2019–20), Schwelle for descant zither / harp and cello / clarinet after J. S. Bach’s chorale Komm, o Tod (2019–20),black trees for orchestra (2020), NUN III for three violins and electronics (2021), NUN IV for bass flute, synthesizer and electronics (2021), Tikkun for string orchestra, percussion, tape and soloists ad libitum (2021), ARIA, augmented reality for soprano and electronics (2021), Ophelia, opera for 12 voices, choir, orchestra and electronics to a libretto by Mirko Bonné after Shakespeare (2020–22), starling, sparrows for amplified clarinet, cello, prepared piano and synthesizer (2022).