People's Artist of Russia, Deputy Artistic Director of the St Petersburg Philharmonia Nikolay Alekseev graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory as a choral and symphonic conductor (classes of A. Mikhailov and A. Jansons), and trained at the Kirov Theatre with Y. Temirkanov. Winner of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation’s International Competition (1982), V. Talich Competition (Prague, 1985) and Min-On (Tokyo, 1985), the musician leads a very eventful artistic life. He headed the orchestra of the Zagreb Philharmonia; has performed with the Moscow Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky Symphony and Russian National orchestras; has 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 3rd degree Estonian order of the White star for his work with the orchestra and in 2010 – the Estonian State Culture prize).

Currently, the artist'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. In 2008 Nikolay Alexeev became the Principal Conductor of the Ulsan Philharmonic Orchestra (Republic of Korea) – the first foreigner in the history of the orchestra to lead it. Since 2000, Nikolay Alekseev has been the conductor of the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Nikolay Alexeev and the orchestra performed all of Brahms' symphonies, a number of works by Stravinsky and Prokofiev, including a rarely performed Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Mahler's Eighth Symphony, called “Symphony of a Thousand”, Schoenberg’s “Gurrelieder” and Messiaen’s “Turangalila”. 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”, Varenbergh’s “Romeo and Juliet” fantasies for piano and orchestra, inspired by Rachmaninov’s Symphony ¹ 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 Government of St Petersburg for concert programs of 2016. In February 2022 by the presidential 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 years of fruitful activity.

In the anniversary Philharmonic 2020/2021 season Nikolay Alexeev conducted the opening and the closing of the season, as well as the historic concert dedicated to the 100^th Anniversary since the day of the Petrograd Philharmonia opening ceremony and the first concert held there, performed with pianists N. Lugansky, B. Berezovsky, S. Trpčeski, F. Kopachevsky and violinist S. Dogadin. The season 2021/2022, also dedicated to the Philharmonia's 100^th Anniversary, the conductor started with the performance of the Leningrad Symphony by Dmitry Shostakovich. In December 2021 the Anniversary Gala concert within the XXI International Winter Festival Arts Square took place under the baton of Nikolay Alexeev, with such musicians participating as E. Virsaladze, N. Lugansky, A. Kantorow, J. Lezhneva, G. Capuçon, S. Shoji and S. Krylov. On 9 August 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.

The 2022/2023 Season's program includes: the opening concert with A. Ramm (performing Shostakovich and Prokofiev); the performance of the Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony to commemorate the 85^th anniversary of its premiere; the opening ceremony of the XXII International Winter Festival Arts Square; a performance of Beethoven and Gershwin pieces with D. Matsuev; monographic programs dedicated to the Rachmaninov's anniversary (The Isle of the Dead, the Second Symphony, The Bells, and piano concerts with N. Lugansky and Y. Favorin); a concert commemorating 120^th anniversary of E. Mravinsky's birth; performances with D. Shishkin and J. Stancul. With Nikolay Alexeev conducting the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra performed in Sochi in September 2022, and they are planning to go on a tour to China in 2023.

This is the fifth season of the conductor's active cooperation with the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, with them opening and closing the orchestra's seasons, performing with such soloists as pianist B. Douglas, violinist S. Dogadin and cellists N. Hakhnazaryan and Z. Jung and going on tours. In the Season 2019/2020 they toured twice: to China (September 2019) and Latvia (March 2020, together with Eifmann Ballet). This new season Nikolay Alexeev one again opens and closes the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra's season. Pianist E. Leonskaja performed with the conductor for the season opening concert.