Prize-winner at the International Toti da Monte Competirion (Treviso, Italy, 1993).

Nikolai Kamensky studied at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire from 1991–1993. From 1993–1997 he trained in Italy, including under Franco Bordoni in Bologna. Between 1997 and 1999 he was a trainee at La Scala in Milan, studying under Luigi Alva and Leila Gencer. Soloist with the Mariinsky Academy of Young Singers since 1999. Since 2008 he has been a soloist with the Mariinsky Opera Company.
The singer's repertoire also includes the bass roles in Mozart's Requiem, Rossini's Stabat Mater and the roles of Don Magnifico (La Cenerentola), Mathieu (Andre Chénier), Giorgio (Nina, o sia La pazza per amore) and Uberto (La serva padrona).

Together with the Mariinsky Opera Company, Nikolai Kamensky has performed at numerous prestigious opera houses and concert halls, among them the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia, English National Opera, Milan's Teatro Piccolo, Swedish Royal Opera, Berlin's Deutsche Oper, the Kennedy Center (Washington), the Bunka Kaikan (Tokyo), Paris Opéra Bastille and the Théâtre du Chételet. He has also toured independently to La Scala (Milan) and the Teatro Real (Madrid).

The singer has appeared under conductors including Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, Yuri Bashmet, Gianandrea Noseda, Sascha Goetzel, Bruno Bartoletti, Michael Güttler, Roberto Gabbiani and Rainer Schwartz; he has taken part in master classes given by Renata Tebaldi, Magda Olivero, Renata Scotto, Bruno de Simone, Vladimir Atlantov, Louis Quilico and Regina Resnik.