Adriana Hölszky was born in Bucharest as a German-Romanian. She studied composition with Stefan Niculescu and piano with Olga Rosca Berdan. In 1976, she moved with her family to Stuttgart, where she continued her studies in composition with Milko Kelemen, analysis, electronic music with Erhard Karkoschka, and chamber music with Günter Louegk.

Her international breakthrough came with the world premiere of her first opera, "Bremer Freiheit," at the first Munich Biennale of Contemporary Music Theater in 1988. Other major music theater works followed: "Die Wände" based on Jean Genet's "Les Paravents" premiered at the Vienna Festival in 1995 under the direction of Hans Neuenfels. "Tragödia - Der unsichtbare Raum" premiered in Bonn in 1997, and the opera "Guiseppe e Sylvia" had its acclaimed premiere in Stuttgart in 2000.

Her first ballet for Martin Schläpfer, "Deep Field," premiered at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf in 2014. In the same year, the opera "Böse Geister" premiered in Mannheim. Her 50-minute work "EXODUS" for 12 percussionists premiered in 2016 at ZKM Karlsruhe as part of the "Sonic Screens" festival.

Adriana Hölszky's compositions have been featured at internationally renowned festivals, including the Tokyo Summer Festival, Akiyoshidai International Contemporary Music Festival, Gaudeamus Festival/Holland, Wien Modern, Steirischer Herbst/Graz, Donaueschingen Music Days, and IGNM World Music Days.

Since 2002, she has been a member of the Berlin Academy of Arts, and since 2003, a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. In 2003, she received the Bach Prize from the City of Hamburg, and in 2011, she was awarded the Christoph-und-Stephan-Kaske Foundation Prize in Munich. In 2015, she was honored with the German Music Authors' Prize from GEMA for Composition Orchestra.