Tcherepnin studied law and then entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory, where he studied under Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay). He was conductor of the Belayev symphony concerts and of the Imperial Opera. From 1908 to 1914 he conducted Sergey Diaghilev's opera and ballet productions in western Europe, and from 1918 to 1921 he was director of the Tiflis (Tbilisi) Conservatory. He then settled in Paris, where he directed a Russian-staffed conservatory. His works include ballets (Le Pavillon d'Armide, Narcisse et Echo, and The Masque of the Red Death), symphonic poems, piano pieces, and songs.