He is renowned for his authoritative performances of the Russian concerto repertoire such as Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky and has worked with many conductors and orchestras throughout the world. He has a flourishing relationship with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Yuri Temirkanov, with whom he performs regularly. He also enjoys a fruitful collaboration with several Russian artists who have made their homes in London; a cello and piano duo with Leonid Gorokhov; piano quartets with the exciting new Hermitage String Trio; and a two-piano partnership with Dmitri Alexeev, who likewise studied at the Moscow Conservatoire under Dmitri Bashkirov.

His repertoire is nonetheless wide-ranging including Bach, Clementi, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Mussorgsky and Scarlatti. He has a special affinity with the works of Chopin and travels frequently to Poland, most recently to Warsaw to perform at the Chopin & His Europe Festival. Other festival appearances include venues in Aldeburgh, Dubrovnik, Eilat, New York, Oslo and Singapore.

Concerto highlights this season include appearances with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra and Sinfonia Lahti, and tours in the UK and Ireland with the Prague Symphony Orchestra and in Spain with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. His schedule also includes visits to Estonia, Germany, Italy and Singapore.

For Hyperion Records Nikolai Demidenko has recorded albums of Bach–Busoni, Chopin, Clementi, Liszt, Medtner, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Schubert & Schumann and concertos by Chopin, Medtner (which won a Gramophone Award), Scriabin, Tchaikovsky & Weber as well as the complete Prokofiev Concertos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Alexander Lazarev. For the Munich-based AGPL label he has recorded Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, a collection of Scarlatti sonatas and a Chopin CD which won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik Preis. Autumn 2008 sees the release of a new Chopin CD, including his first recording of the 24 Preludes, for Onyx Classics.