He started his conducting career as an assistant conductor at the Mannheim National Theatre (Opera). In the next years he served as opera conductor at the theaters of Pforzheim, Ulm, and Darmstadt) where he enriched his opera repertory and experience having conducted more than seventy (70) operas. In 1990 he was appointed as General Musical Director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Frankfurt Oder. With this orchestra, he assimilated a vast repertory of symphonic music and carried out numerous tours In Germany performing in Berlin, Köln, Bonn, Bremen, etc, and abroad (Latvia, Israel, Russia, Spain, France, Holland, Belgium) appearing in major European cities such as Moscow, Madrid, Paris, Amsterdam, The Hague, Brussels, Tel Aviv, etc. Furthermore, with the said orchestra he recorded a considerable number of CDs some of which obtained international prizes and acclaim.

Under his direction, this ensemble has been developed into the main symphonic orchestra of the Federal State of Brandenburg being upgraded and renamed to State Orchestra of Brandenburg Frankfurt (Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt).

In May 2000 he was appointed as the first Artistic Director at the newly established Thessaloniki Concert Hall. There, in a ten-year period, he presented a remarkable work with a multifarious program including operas, symphonic music, educational programs, and performances exalting this foundation to a cultural center of international recognition.

During the years of his management as Artistic Director he put on many operas such as Traviata, Rigoletto, Madama Butterfly, Cavaleria Rusticana, Le Nozze di Figaro, Abduction from the Seraglio, the ballet Romeo & Juliet of Prokofiev, etc. having conducted most of them. He also, put on and conducted "avant-garde" music works such as War Requiem of Benjamin Britten, Metropolis by Fritz Lang (silent film with orchestra live music) as well as other music masterpieces like Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis or J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and the great Mass in B minor.

As invited conductor, he has conducted various many great European orchestras like London Philarmonia in two performances during the Athens Festival (1989), Royal Philarmonic Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Gustav Mahler Orchestra of Prague, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra etc. cooperating with great soloists as Rostropovich, Agnes Baltsa, Misha Maiski, David Garet, Lars Vogt, Kolja Blacher etc. He has also repeatedly collaborated with all the significant Greek Orchestras as the Athens State Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Orchestra, National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Greek National Opera’s Orchestra, Camerata of Athens, Athens Symphony Orchestra, Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra, and Patras Symphony Orchestra.

1994 - Two consecutive concerts, the first in Poznan at Poland and the second in Frankfurt Oder in the frame of manifestation of reconciliation between Germany and Poland after the Fall of the Berlin Wall where he conducted the Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the participation and co-operation of both cities orchestras, two

choirs (Berlin & Poznan) and the Poznan boy’s choir (total of 650 people on the scene).

2001 - Gala concert for the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2001, dedicated to Greece, with the participation of Agnes Baltsa at the Alte Oper, Frankfurt, 10 October 2001

2002 - Concert in the Golden Hall of Musikverein in Vienna in 2002 on the occasion of the assumption of the European Union’s Presidency by Greece as the leader of the State Orchestra of Athens with Agnes Baltsa as soloist. For this performance - being the first outside Greece of this orchestra – he was proposed as a nominee for the Great Award of the Union of Greek Critics for Drama & Music.

2007 – Concert with Beijing’s Symphony Orchestra, Agnes Baltsa and Angelo Simo given for the opening of Cultural Year of Greece before the Olympic Games at Beijing of 2008

2009 - "GINA BACHAUER" Internationa Music Foundation's Special Award for his overall contribution to the culture and music activity of Greece

Contemporary with his conducting career, Nikos Athineos presented over the years a significant number of music compositions, most known of them being "6 small pieces" for piano (1973-1974), "Tocata" for piano (1976), "Noneto" for Strings quartet and five wind instruments (1976), "Symphony in one part" (1978), Suite for strings orchestra (1976 / 2nd scripture 2010), "Ithaki" circle of six songs on poems of C.P.Cavafy for soprano, baritone and symphonic orchestra (2004-2006), "Elytis circle" on poems of Odysseas Elytis for soprano and symphonic orchestra (2011), "Concerto" for orchestra (2014).

Nikos Athineos was the Director of the Athens Conservatory and Artistic Director until July 2023. Nowadays, he is  Artistic Director and principal conductor of COLLEGIUM MUSICUM ATHENS string orchestra while he continues appearing as invited conductor with significant orchestras in Greece and abroad.