At just 18, he recorded his first stereo album featuring works by Ibert, Delibes, and Fauré under Reel to Reel Tapes Russia.

In 2020, Nikolai relocated to Munich to pursue his bachelor’s degree at the Munich University of Music and Theater under Prof. Koryun Asatryan, one of Europe’s most distinguished saxophonists. Since 2021, he has been a scholarship recipient of the Oscar and Vera Ritter Stiftung and, since 2022, a German Scholarship holder as well as a member of Live Music Now Munich, founded by Lord Yehudi Menuhin.

A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Nikolai has collaborated with composers such as Sergei Nevsky, Kirill Chernegin, and Chaya Czernowin, gaining invaluable creative insights. In the 2022/23 season, he was invited to the Chamber Music Laboratory as part of the Bayern Komponiert, where he worked with Christoph Grund (piano/composer), Markus Tiller (SWR Orchestra cellist), and Minas Borboudakis (composer). As part of this project, he recorded a CD featuring works by Chaya Czernowin and Per Nørgård.

In 2024, Nikolai was selected for the Next Generation program at Donaueschingen, the world’s oldest contemporary music festival. He was also chosen to participate in the prestigious Darmstädter Ferienkurse 2025, a leading platform for contemporary music.

In 2025, Nikolai will launch his own contemporary music festival, Sonus Novus, in Munich. The festival will feature a series of premieres for Trio Aether, an ensemble he co-founded with violist Denis Valishin and accordionist Marcell Csuka.

His artistic development has been further shaped by masterclasses with Marcus Weiss (Basel), Pierre-Stéphane Meugé, Arno Bornkamp (Amsterdam), Claude Delangle (Paris), Christian Wirth (Paris), Simon Diricq (Brussels), Jean-Denis Michat (Lyon), Nikita Zimin (Moscow), Asya Fateyeva (Hamburg), Nobuya Sugawa (Japan), Sebastian Pottmeier (Cologne), Vincent David (Brussels/Versailles), and Daniel Gauthier (Cologne).