Nikolai Ermakov was born in 1980 in Moscow. Studied at the A. N. Scriabin Children's Music School (class of Alexei Timokhin), Moscow State Musical College named after  BUT.  G. Schnittke (class of Assoc. Prof. Lyudmila Krasilnikova) and the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music (class of Prof. Dmitry Lukyanov).

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As a student of the Russian Academy of Music, he worked in the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow Philharmonic conducted by Yuri Simonov, as a member of the ASO he repeatedly performed in Japan, Europe, and the USA. Later he worked in the orchestra of the Folk Dance Ensemble under the direction of Igor Moiseev. At present he is an artist of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia named after E.  F.  Svetlanova.

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Has performed with orchestras conducted by G. Rozhdestvensky, A. Lazarev, V. Gergiev, K. Nagano, M. Yurovsky, V. Petrenko, Y. Bashmet, M. Pletnev, K. Yarvi and others; collaborated with famous musicians, including N. Petrov, E. Obraztsova, M. Rostropovich, D. Hvorostovsky. Participated in projects and festivals of Denis Matsuev. He played as a guest musician in various Moscow ensembles, in particular, as a member of the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Yurovsky, he took part in the recording of D. Shostakovich's symphonies.