Eleanna Pitsikaki

Eleanna Pitsikaki is a Qanun virtuoso, composer, educator, lecturer  music mediator  and researcher from Crete, Greece. Recognized for her innovative ethno-jazz fusion, she blends influences from Asia Minor, the Balkans, Greece, and the Ottoman tradition with contemporary sounds and transcultural sounds.

She has performed at prestigious venues worldwide, including the Odeon of Herodes Atticus (Athens), Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), and the Sharq Taronalari Festival (Uzbekistan). Since 2023, she has been a member of the Trickster Orchester, recording with ECM Records in 2024, and previously played with the Bridges Kammerorchester (2017–2024). She has collaborated with renowned artists such as Ross Daly, Sokrates Sinopoulos, Yasmin Levy, and Evanthia Reboutsika.

Beyond performance, Eleanna is shaping the future of transcultural music education. She is a lecturer at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz, a co-researcher at the University of Cologne, and a PhD candidate at the University of Mainz, specializing in music’s role in social inclusion..

Her debut album, Àroma, will be released in 2025.

Awards

2025 – WDR Liminal Music Prize with Trickster Orchestra & George E. Lewis
2024 – German Record Critics’ Award for the album Complementarity with
Bridges Kammerorchester
2022 – Frankfurt Diversity and Integration Prize with Bridges
Kammerorchester
2021 – German Record Critics’ Award for debut album Identigration, co-
produced with Hessischer Rundfunk, in the Crossover Productions
category
2019 – The Power of the Arts Award with Bridges Kammerorchester

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