Andrei Nikolsky, born in Moscow in 1959, received his first piano lessons at the age of five. From 1976 until 1981 he studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow with professors Neuhaus and Naumov. In 1977, he made his debut in the Scriabin Museum, Moscow. Two years later he won several international prizes including the Grand Prix Marguerite Long/Jacques Thibaud, Paris. In 1983, he emigrated from the Soviet Union, and was a prizewinner in the ARD Competition, Munich. He began to work with Professor Leygraf in Salzburg in 1984, and participated at Lockenhaus Music Festival and Tanglewood Music Festival. His accidental death in early 1995 was a great loss for the music world.