Gleb Nikolsky received his musical education at the Conservatory of Moscow with A. Baturin, after that he studied with the famous Russian bass Jewgenij Nesterenko and continued his studies at the opera school of Scala Milano where personalities such as Giulietta Simionato, Renata Tebaldi, Giuseppe di Stefano and A. Beltrami worked with him. He sang at theatre of Voronezh for several years, where he acquired a vast repertoire. After having won some lyric competitions, a. o. the “All Union Vocal Test”, Treviso, competitions in Sofia, Treviso and Barcelona, he was engaged as soloist at Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
With roles such as King Philipp in "Don Carlos", Ramphis in "Aida", Pater Guardian in "Forza del destino", Fiesco in "Simone Boccanegra", Boris and Pimen in "Boris Godunow", Dosifey in "Khovantchina", Ivan Susanin in Glinka’s "A Live for the Tsar" and Mephisto in "Faust" of Gounod he had great successes at Bolshoi Theatre and other Russian theatres.
Further contracts led him abroad, he guested at Scala Milano and at Teatro San Carlo in Naples, at the theatre of Reggio Emilia, in Australia, Japan, in the USA and on Cuba. In Leningrad he caused a big sensation with a Wagner concert. Furthermore he sang Gremin in "Eugen Onegin" in Zurich and the role of Archbishop in Tchaikovsky’s "The Maid of Orléans" (concert form) in the American premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York, a role that he had sung before already at Bolshoi Theatre and that he sang then also at Met New York.
He was heard as Ramphis, Pimen and Inquisitor at Staatsoper Vienna, as Warlaam in "Boris Godunow" in Florence, Tirésias in "Oedipe" of Enescu, Gremin and Pimen at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Pimen at Staatsoper Munich, Pimen, Ramphis, “Barbiere di Siviglia“ Basilio, Boris Godunov and Inquisitor at National Opera Helsinki, Zacharias in Tampere, Ramphis in Pretoria, South Africa, “Forza del destino“ Guardian at Savonlinna Festival, Inquisitor in Oviedo and Boris Godunov und Philipp in Bonn.
Last contracts up to 2016/17 led him to Paris for Gremin, Bolkonsky (“War and Peace”) and Pimen, to Barcelona Liceo for Boris Godunov/Pimen and Tiresias in "Oedipe", to Deutsche Oper Berlin for Tiresias, Pimen and Gremin, to Valencia for Don Basilio, to Helsinki for Pimen, to Savonlinna for Timur, to Tampere for Gremin, to Stockholm as Banquo and Timur, to Santiago di Chile as Gremin and Commendatore, to Singapore for Timur, to Copenhagen as Sparafucile, to Reykjavik with 13. Symphony of Shostakovich and to Scala Milano for „Jenufa“ and "The Gambler" by Prokofiev. He sang Gremin at Opéra Bastille in Paris, "The Gambler" at Staatsoper Berlin, “Lady Macbeth of Mzensk“ in Santiago de Chile and was heard as Chowansky in „Chowantchina“ at Opéra Bastille in Paris and in Gent and Antwerp and
2018 he will sing the role of Boris in "Lady Macbeth from Mzensk" in Klagenfurt. Mr. Nikolsky recorded Warlaam in „Boris Godunov“ for Sony.