• Honoured Artist of Russia 
• Prize-winner at the International Pechkovsky Opera Singers' Competition (1996, St Petersburg)
• Prize-winner at the International Rimsky-Korsakov Young Opera Singers' Competition (1998, St Petersburg)
• Prize-winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition (1998, Moscow)
• Recipient of the Golden Sofit, St Petersburg's most prestigious theatre prize, for the role of Grigory Gryaznoi in the operaThe Tsar's Bride ("Best role in musical theatre", 2005)

Born in Murmansk, Yevgeny Nikitin graduated from the St Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in 1997 (class of Bulat Minzhilkiev). While still a student, he was invited to join the Mariinsky Theatre and has since performed frequently, taking part in the theatre's most significant productions.

Repertoire at the Mariinsky Theatre includes:
Ruslan (Ruslan a nd Lyudmila)
Boris Godunov, Shchelkalov, Rangoni (Boris Godunov)
Shaklovity (Khovanshchina)
Prince Igor, Vladimir Yaroslavich (Prince Igor)
Demon (The Demon)
Eugene Onegin (Eugene Onegin)
Tomsky (The Queen of Spades)
Ebn-Hakia (Iolanta) 
Aleko (Aleko) 
Gryaznoi (The Tsar's Bride) 
Gusliar (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh a nd the Maiden Fevronia) 
Creonte, Narrator (Oedipus Rex) 
Chief of Police (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) 
Remenyuk (Semyon Kotko) 
Banco (Macbeth) 
Baron Duphol (La traviata in concert) 
Marchese di Calatrava (La forza del destino) 
Philip II (Don Carlo) 
Lodovico (Otello) 
Colline (La bohème) 
High Priest of Dagon (Samson et Dalila) 
Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) 
Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni) 
Baron Scarpia (Tosca) 
Dutchman (Der Fliegende Holländer) 
Heinrich der Vogel, Friedrich von Telramund (Lohengrin) 
Wotan (Das Rheingold a nd Siegfried) 
Fasolt (Das Rheingold) 
Gunther (Götterdämmerung) 
Amfortas (Parsifal) 
Jokanaan (Salome) 
Orest (Elektra) 
The Prisoner (Il prigioniero in concert)

Wagnerian roles occupy a special position in Yevgeny Nikitin’s repertoire. As a Wagnerian singer, he has received high praise from Russian and western music critics.

2002 marked his debut at the Metropolitan Opera House as Dolokhov (War and Peace). Returns to the Metropolitan include Colline (La Bohème), Pogner (Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg), Fasolt (Das Rheingold), Oreste (Elektra) and engagements now take him to major theatres and festivals through Europe, the United States and Japan.

He made his Parisian debut at the Theatre du Châtelet in the title role of Rubinstein’s the Demon and he returned in 2005 to sing the title role of Boris Godunov. Recent engagements at the Paris National Opera include Jochanaan (Salome), Klingsor (Parsifal) and the title role of Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero. Other recent engagements include Der Fliegende Hollaender in Baden Baden (Gergiev), Toronto and Leipzig; Fasolt at ‘Le Festival d’Aix-en-Provence’ (Rattle); the Wanderer at the BBC Proms (Eschenbach); Amfortas (Parsifal) in Valencia (Maazel). He made his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich in 2008 as Jochanaan and returned there as Klingsor and for a new production of Lohengrin.

He made his debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich in 2008 as Jochanaan and returned there as Klingsor and for a new production of Lohengrin. Recent concert performances include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Seoul (Chung), Mussorgsky’sSongs and Dances of Death (Eschenbach), Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the LSO and Rubinstein’s the Demon at the Barbican.

2010 saw him at the National Symphony Orchestra Washington for Verdi’s Requiem under Eschenbach, in Toronto for Der Fliegende Holländer, as Oreste at the Metropolitan Opera and Philip II (Don Carlo) at the Mariinsky. It marked his debut at the Verbier Festival as Jochanen in concert performance of Salomé. 2011 saw his return to the Metropolitan as Rangoni and included the title role of Boris Godunov in Nice, Telramund (Lohengrin) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Don Pizarro (Fidelio) in Valencia under Zubin Metha’s baton and Ibn Hakia (Iolanta) at the Salzburg Festival.
Evgeny Nikitin has recorded Rangoni in Boris Godunov (1997, conducted by Valery Gergiev) and Remeniuk in Semyon Kotko(2000, conducted by Valery Gergiev) and has recorded Amfortas in Parsifal with the Mariinsky Theatre.