Nikolai Lugansky was born on 26 April 1972 in Moscow, Russia, to research scientist parents. When he was 5 years old, before he had learned to read music, he played a Beethoven piano sonata that he learned by ear. He studied piano at the Moscow Central Music School and the Moscow Conservatory. His teachers included Tatiana Kestner, Tatiana Nikolayeva and Sergei Dorensky.