Nikolay Zabavnikov (1937–2001) was a Russian violinist, professor at the Moscow Conservatory, 2nd violin in Beethoven Quartet (1965–1990), Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1989). He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1960 after studying with Dmitri Tsyganov and received his PhD degree in 1963. Nikolay won the fourth prize at the George Enescu International Competition (1961) in Bucharest. Zabavnikov started teaching at the Moscow Conservatory as Tsyganov assistant in 1967, joined the Chamber Ensemble/Quartet Chair in 1973 and became an assistant professor there in 1985.

Since 1961, Nikolay had been touring around the Soviet Union, in Great Britain, Poland, Cyprus, Yugoslavia, Japan, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Switzerland, Finland and other countries. Zabavnikov joined Beethoven Quartet in 1965 to replace Vasili Shirinsky as second violin. With the ensemble, Nikolay participated in the first ever recording of complete Beethoven quartets for the Bicentennial of a composer. At the Small Hall Of The Moscow Conservatoire, the musician premiered many works of Dmitri Shostakovich, Alfred Schnittke, Yury Levitin, Eugen Kapp. Zabavnikov also arranged and edited numerous violin and piano sonatas by Nikolai Myaskovsky, Reinhold Glière, Mikhail Milman, Miroslav Skorik, Arno Babadjanian, Samuel Barber, and Arnold Schoenberg.