Graduated from the Leningrad State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory (class of Professor Ilya Musin).
From 1968 to 1993 he was a conductor with the Maly Opera and Ballet Theatre. Has conducted a vast range of operas and ballets. With the theatre he toured to Austria, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, France and Japan.
In 1987 together with stage director Alexander Petrov he formed the Zazerkalye St Petersburg State Children’s Musical Theatre, where he remains as Principal Conductor to this day. In addition to productions for children, he has worked on productions of classical operas including L’elisir d’amore, L’italiana in Algeri, Così fan tutte, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, La Bohème, Porgy and Bess and Iolanta in addition to works by contemporary St Petersburg composers such as Leonid Desyatnikov, Sergei Banevich, Olga Petrova and Igor Rogalev. One significant event came with a production of Gennady Banshchikov’s opera Melpomene’s Lovers, which is dedicated to the founding father of Russian theatre Fyodor Volkov. This piece was awarded the St Petersburg City Government Prize. In 2009 Pavel Bubelnikov was named a winner of Russia’s Golden Mask theatre prize in the category “Best Conductor” for Rossini’s opera La Cenerentola at the Zazerkalye theatre.

Since the 2004–2005 season Pavel Bubelnikov has been a guest conductor at the Mariinsky Theatre. He performs programmes of symphony music with various St Petersburg orchestras. Since the 2008-2009 season Pavel Bubelnikov has also been a guest conductor of the Mikhailovsky Theatre.