Antoaneta Emanuilova was born in Bulgaria and moved to Germany at the age of seven. She studied with Wolfgang Boettcher and Jens Peter Maintz in Berlin and with Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School in New York. At the same time, she was a scholarship holder of the Villa Musica, the ZEIT Stiftung of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, and the Landessammlung Baden-Württemberg.

Emanuilova regularly gives concerts as a soloist and has received several awards, including a first prize at the Domenico Gabrielli Competition in Berlin and the Grand Prix of the "Music and Earth" international competition. Her extensive chamber music work has led her to collaborate with musicians such as Thomas Brandis, Jörg Widmann, Nils Mönkemeyer, Anna Prohaska, Amihai Grosz, Lauma Skride, Pauline Sachse, Martin Spangenberg, Ilan Gronich, and the Kuss Quartet. In 2007 she won a principal position in the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne. In 2011 she left the orchestra to devote herself more to making music in smaller ensembles, and the following year became a member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Oberon Trio. The Trio performs in the Berliner Philharmonie, Wiener Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Philharmonie Essen, and Kölner Philharmonie and with partners such as Ian Bostridge, Tabea Zimmermann, and Christoph Prégardien.

Emanuilova has given guest performances as principal cellist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, SWR Stuttgart, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Komische Oper Berlin, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and, playing on historical instruments, the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble. She has also regularly been serving as principal cellist in the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer for almost ten years, and has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado.

Since 2014 she has taught her own cello class at the Rostock University of Music and Theater, including for three years as an interim professor.