Leonid Nikolaev graduated from the Moscow Conservatory as a symphony and opera conductor under Balashov in 1963, and completed his postgraduate studies at the same institution under Shereshevsky in 1966.
In 1969 - 1989 he was a chief conductor of the Moscow Conservatory Music College Symphony Orchestra.
With this orchestra in 1974 he received a 1st prize at the conducting competition organized by Herbert von Karajan's Foundation.
In 1988 together with Zubin Mehta and Leonard Slatkin he co-founded what became the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra.
During the last season of his college tenure he conducted Beethoven's 5th piano concerto, Mozart's Symphony no.