Nikolai Kuznetsov is a Russian pianist, born in Moscow on December 26, 1994, into a large family of musicians. His father made accordions, and his mother taught piano and worked as an accompanist.
Kuznetsov studied at the Gnessin Special Music School and graduated from the Moscow State Conservatory named after Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, where he studied with Sergei Dorensky. In 2021, he completed the conservatory’s postgraduate assistantship under Dorensky, Alexander Pisarev, and Nikolai Lugansky.
He has won prizes at international and national competitions. In 2018, he won the Ricardo Viñes International Piano Competition in Spain, receiving first prize and all of its special prizes. In 2019, he took first prize at the Wandering Music Stars piano competition in Tel Aviv. In 2021, he won the Grand Prix at the Monte Carlo Piano Masters and received the Prince Rainier III Prize.
Kuznetsov has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia named after Evgeny Svetlanov, the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at festivals in Russia and abroad and given solo concerts in Russia, Spain, Italy, Estonia, Germany, France, Japan, and South America.