Born in Murmansk he entered the Saint Petersburg conservatory in 1992. In his final year aged 23, he was engaged as a soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre.  From thereon his international career developed. 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. Recent concert performances include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Seoul (Chung), Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death (Eschenbach), Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the LSO and Rubinstein’s 'The Demon' at the Barbican.

He maintains his relationship with the Mariinsky theatre, returning there to sing leading bass-baritone roles - Boris Godunov, Prince Igor, Ruslan, Filippo (Don Carlo), Prince Igor, Der Hollander, Amfortas (Parsifal), Wotan (Das Rheingold), The Wanderer (Siegfried) and both Don Giovanni and Figaro.

2010 saw him at the National Symphony Orchestra Washington for Verdi’s Requiem under Eschenbach, in Toronto for Der Fliegende Hollander, as Oreste at the Metropolitan Opera and Filipo (Don Carlos) at the Mariinsky.  It marked his debut at the Verbier Festival as Jochanen in a 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.

Highlights of his next season include his return to the Paris Opera as Tomski (Pique Dame), Der Hollander at the Tokyo Opera, Mussorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death in Berlin.  Summer 2012 he makes his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in a new production of Der Fliegende Hollander conducted by Christian Thielemann.

Evgeny Nikitin has recorded Rangoni (Boris Godunov) and Remeniuk (Semyon Kotko) both for Philips Classics and has recently recorded Amfortas, Parsifal with the Mariinsky Theatre.