People's Artist of Russia, Chief Conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonia. Nikolay Alexeev graduated from the Leningrad choir school named after M.I.Glinka and the Leningrad Conservatory as a choral (class of A. Mikhaylov) and opera-symphonic conductor (class of A. Jansons). He had his traineeship at the Kirov (Mariinsky) Opera under Yuri Temirkanov.

Winner of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation’s International Competition (West Berlin, 1982), V.Talich Competition (Prague, 1985) and Min-On (Tokyo, 1985), the musician’s life is full of artistic events. He led the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra; performed with the Moscow Philharmonic orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony and Russian National orchestras; worked with such foreign companies as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam, Dresden, Stuttgart, and Copenhagen Philharmonic orchestras, the Berlin and Baltimore symphony orchestras, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and the New Japan Philharmonic.

In 2001–2010 he led the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (in 2006 he was awarded the 3^rd degree Estonian order of the White star for his work with the orchestra, and in 2010 he received the Estonian Republic’s prize in the sphere of culture).

The conductor's concert activities cover the countries of Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Slovenia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania), Latin America, South Korea, Japan and the USA. From 2018 till January 2024 Nikolay Alexeev was the Principal Conductor of the Ulsan Philharmonic Orchestra (Republic of Korea) – the first foreign conductor in the history of the orchestra to lead it.

Since 2000, Nikolay Alexeev has been the conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2022 he took over the position of the orchestra’s Chief Conductor. Since 2024 – the Chief Conductor of the Philharmonia. Nikolay Alexeev and the orchestra performed all of the Brahms' symphonies and Ein Deutsches Requiem, a number of works by Stravinsky and Prokofiev, including a rarely performed Cantata for the 20^th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Mahler's Eighth Symphony, called Symphony of a Thousand, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and Messiaen’s Turangalila, Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler, Janacek’s Taras Bulba and Glagolitic Mass. Maestro regularly introduces new works to the public. He conducted a number of premiere performances: Tishchenko’s Second and Fifth Dante Symphonies, Slonimsky’s Thirteenth Symphony, Korolev’s Figure of Speech and Heretic, Korchmar’s Tsar's Chants; Russian premieres of Borisova-Ollas’s First Symphony The Triumph of Heaven and Wunderbare Leiden, Warenbergh’s Romeo and Juliet fantasies for piano and orchestra, inspired by Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.1, St Petersburg premieres of Shchedrin's Concerto Cantabile and Paganini’s Fifth violin concerto.

In 2017, the conductor was awarded the Prize of the St Petersburg Government for the concert programmes of 2016. In February 2022, by the President’s decree Nikolay Alexeev was awarded the Order of Friendship for his great contribution to the cultural and artistic development of the country and for the long years of fruitful activity.

The conductor's performances opened and closed the last three seasons, two of which were dedicated to the 100^th anniversary of the Philharmonic. On August 9^th, 2022 the conductor led the performance of the Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony by the united St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra within the framework of the Memory Score, a music and history project dedicated to the 80^th anniversary of the siege premiere of the symphony. In December 2022, the opening concert of the XXII Arts Square International Winter Festival (soloist D. Matsuev) took place under the baton of Nikolay Alexeev. Also, the programmes dedicated to the 140^th anniversary of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the anniversaries of Sergei Rachmaninoff (soloist N. Lugansky) and Evgeny Mravinsky (soloist Y. Stanchul) were the past season’s memorable events.

In the 2023/2024 season’s poster – the opening concert with pianist D. Shishkin (the programme featured music by Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony (for the 70^th anniversary of the premiere), performance of Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony at the opening of the XXIII Arts Square Festival dedicated to the Memory of maestro Yuri Temirkanov, with participation of the Bolshoi Theatre Choir (soloist A.Tikhomirov), and Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of the Leningrad complete siege lifting on January 27^th, 2024, a concert from the works of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev with D.Matsuev, piano concerts by Beethoven and Prokofiev with the participation of N.Lugansky and I.Papoyan, as well as Mahler's First Symphony, Prokofiev’s Sixth Symphony, Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances.

In September 2022, the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the leadership of Nikolay Alexeev toured in Sochi, in August 2023 – again in Sochi and Nalchik, and in June 2023, under the direction of the conductor, a foreign tour was held in seven major cities of China. In October 2023, Nikolay Alexeev held two concerts with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra at the Dmitry Hvorostovsky International Festival in Krasnoyarsk.

The conductor's actively cooperating with the Philharmonia’s St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra academic symphony orchestra, opening and closing the orchestra's seasons, performing with such soloists as pianists B.Douglas, E.Leonskaja, E.Virsaladze, E.Mechetina, violinist S.Dogadin and cellists N.Hakhnazaryan, Z.Fung, and touring as well. In the 2019/2020 season they had two foreign tours: China (September 2019) and Latvia (March 2020, along with State St Petersburg Eifmann Ballet Theatre). This new season Nikolay Alexeev once again opened the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra's season, pianist F.Kopachevsky performed in the opening concert along with the conductor.

The distinguished Orchestra of Russia, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the oldest symphony orchestra in Russia, in the 2022/2023 season celebrated the 140^th anniversary of its foundation. History of the Orchestra which, according to foreign reviews, “is among the world’s elite and, without a doubt, historically the most important orchestra in Russia”, began with the decree of Alexander III on July 16^th, 1882, which initiated the creation of the Court Musicians Choir. Transformed into the Court Orchestra at the beginning of the XX century, for the first time in Russia, the orchestra performed the symphonic poems Ein Heldenleben and Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, Mahler's First Symphony and Bruckner's Ninth Symphony, Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy and Stravinsky’s First Symphony. A. Nikisch and R. Strauss conducted the orchestra as well as A. Glazunov, who dedicated the Festival Overture to the orchestra. In 1917, the Court Orchestra became the State Orchestra, and was headed by S. Koussevitzky.

In 1921, the orchestra, given the hall of the former Noble Assembly at its disposal, opened the country's first Philharmonia. The unprecedented in scale activities of the orchestra drew a new and sometimes far removed from classical music audience to its Grand Hall. Outstanding Russian musicians underwent a rigorous test of their conducting skills with the orchestra. Such legendary Western conductors as B. Walter, F. Weingartner, H. Abendroth, O. Fried, E. Kleiber, P. Monteux and O. Klemperer; soloists V. Horowitz and S. Prokofiev, performed with the orchestra. The orchestra mastered a vast contemporary repertoire. In 1918, it presented the premiere of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, and in 1926 – Shostakovich’s First Symphony.

In 1934, the orchestra – the first in the country – was awarded the title of Distinguished Orchestra of Russia. 1938 ushered in a half-century of the “Age of Mravinsky” – years of hard work, which earned the orchestra a place among the most prominent orchestras of the world. In 1946, the orchestra embarked on its first foreign trip – and gave its first overseas performance in the country’s symphonic performance history. This was followed by regular tours around the world, performing at the most prestigious European festivals. A unique and creative alliance formed between D. Shostakovich and E. Mravinsky, to whom the composer devoted the Eighth Symphony. The conductor and the orchestra performed five Shostakovich's symphonies for the first time. In fact, a tradition of an original interpretation of famous scores was born. Music of the twentieth century as a whole assumed a significant role in the orchestra’s repertoire. Alternating as the second conductor of the orchestra were K. Sanderling, A. Jansons and M. Jansons; at the podium were L. Stokowski, L. Maazel, Z. Mehta, K. Masur, E. Svetlanov, G. Rozhdestvensky and composers B. Britten, A. Copland, Z. Kodály, W. Lutosławski, L. Berio, K. Penderecki, and soloists: V. Cliburn, G. Gould, A. Benedetti Michelangeli, I. Stern, S. Richter, E. Gilels, D. Oistrakh, E. Virsaladze, N. Petrov, G. Sokolov, V. Tretyakov, L. Kogan, N. Gutman, V. Krainev, V. Spivakov and A. Lyubimov. From 1988 till 2022, Yuri Temirkanov headed the orchestra.

In January 2022 Yuri Temirkanov resigned as Principal Conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, still remaining Artistic Director of both the orchestra and the St Petersburg Philharmonia – he had been occupying this position for more than two decades. Nikolay Alexeev, who has been collaborating with the Orchestra for over twenty years, has subsequently become the orchestra’s Principal Conductor.

The orchestra’s repertoire is constantly updated with new, including modern compositions – among them they have performed for the first time in Russia: the First Symphony The Triumph of Heaven and fantasy Wunderbare Leiden by Borisova-Ollas, the nocturne Sur le meme accord and La nuit etoilée by Dutilleux, and the Piano Concerto Century Rolls and Shaker Loops by Adams, Giya Kancheli’s Letters to Friends, Widmann’s Babylon-Suite, as well as Ligeti’s Ramifications for string orchestra and Concert Românesc.

The orchestra opened the 2023/2024 concert season on September 25^th, the birthday of D. Shostakovich. Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (soloist D. Shishkin) and the Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony (on the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of the premiere) were played under the direction of Chief conductor N. Alexeev. Traditional subscription cycles – "Yuri Temirkanov’s Orchestra" and "First Symphony Orchestra of Russia" – in the new season are dedicated to Maestro Yuri Temirkanov’s memory. Only within the framework of these subscriptions, the poster of the orchestra includes symphonies of Haydn, Brahms, Dvorak, Bruckner, Mahler, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, Verdi’s Requiem, Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra, piano concerts of Beethoven, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Violin concerto by Sibelius, symphonic fragments from Wagner's operas. The list of soloists features D. Matsuev, N. Lugansky, E. Virsaladze, I. Bessonov, H. Kazazyan, as well as the XVII International Tchaikovsky Competition III Prize winner I. Papoian and the International Rachmaninoff Competition I Prize winner A. Klyuchko. In concerts of the new cycle dedicated to the 200^th anniversary of Bruckner, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra performs the Third (Wagner), Seventh and Ninth symphonies of the composer. Two evenings are dedicated to the 80^th anniversary of the Leningrad complete liberation from the fascists’ blockade. The list of the guest conductors of the orchestra includes P. Bubelnikov, F. Korobov, A. Rudin, D. Botinis, L. Krämer (Germany), A. Chernushenko, V. Borisov and others. The soloists feature pianists D. Matsuev, N. Lugansky, E. Virsaladze, E. Leonskaja, B. Berezovsky, A. Gindin, I. Bessonov, D. Shishkin, M. Kultyshev, F. Kopachevsky, P. Raikerus, I. Papoian; violinists V. Repin, H. Kazazyan, I. Ioff; flutist S. Viland; cellist A. Ramm; singers H. Gerzmava, A. Tikhomirov, Yu. Vorobyov, A. Denisova, B. Stepanov, I. Vasiliev. The orchestra continues its touring activities. In August 2023, performances were held in Sochi and Nalchik (conductor N. Alexeev), and in June 2023, after a three-year break, foreign tours of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra took place. Under the direction of N. Alexeev, Rachmaninoff's music was played in seven large cities of China. The Tchaikovsky Competition winner pianist D. Kharitonov played solo part. For the current season, tours of the orchestra in China are planned again, as well as performances in Krasnoyarsk and Moscow.