Eleanna Pitsikaki
Multi- Award Winner Qanun Virtuoso | Composer | Music Mediator | Lecturer |Researcher |Expert for Trancultural music

Eleanna Pitsikaki is one of the most distinctive voices of the qanun on today’s global music scene. Rooted in jazz culture and shaped by memory, tradition, and improvisation, her work embraces transcultural expression as a living, evolving language.

Born and raised in Crete and now based in Germany, she approaches the qanun as a living instrument — creating a musical dialogue where East meets West, makam meets jazz, and ancestral sound unfolds into bold contemporary forms. As a performer, educator, and expert in transcultural mediation, Eleanna builds bridges between worlds, on stage, in academia, and beyond.

From an early stage, Eleanna Pitsikaki combined the sounds of Byzantine music with the pathways of Ottoman makam before turning her attention to the world of jazz improvisation. Her music is a creative interplay between tradition and modernity.

After studying Global Music, among other programs, at the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg and the HKU Conservatory in Utrecht, she went on to earn a Master’s degree in Jazz Improvisation at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. Through her studies, Eleanna Pitsikaki combines musical intuition with compositional expertise and an in-depth knowledge of Ottoman makam, Byzantine music, and transcultural musical practices.

Her debut album AROMA, released by TIMEZONE RECORDS in 2025, brings these diverse influences together in a warm and emotionally rich musical experience. The album is a tribute to the fusion of jazz, Mediterranean sounds, and experimental freedom — a journey through memory, identity, and emotion that reflects the essence of the artist herself: authentic, profound, and passionate.

And it is not only the album but also Eleanna Pitsikaki’s live performances that embody passion and authenticity in every moment.

Eleanna Pitsikaki is the founder of QanunJazz — a form of jazz that she composes from the perspective and sonic possibilities of the qanun. Guido Diesing wrote about her debut album: “The qanun fits seamlessly into the overall sound, as if it had always been a natural part of jazz bands.”

Her artistic work has received international recognition. Eleanna Pitsikaki won the Intercontinental Music Award in the category Best European Jazz and received Silver at the Transglobal Music Award. Her work has also been recognized through various other international competitions, festivals, and musical projects.

Through her work with the qanun, Eleanna Pitsikaki is also sought after as a musician for contemporary ensembles such as the Trickster Orchestra, of which she has been a member since 2023. She is also a founder and founding member of the Bridges Chamber Orchestra and leads various bands and ensembles, including Balkan Fuego Trio, OMOPO Transcultural Orchestra, and her quintet, named after her debut album.

As a researcher, Eleanna Pitsikaki is moving through the academic world at a breathtaking pace. She has taught at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, and the Hochschule für Musik Mainz, where she is also pursuing her doctoral studies. Her work goes far beyond music-making: she is actively involved in transcultural networks and researches the profound social and cultural meanings of music—particularly jazz, which she takes into new realms with her qanun. As an expert in transcultural music education and practice, Eleanna Pitsikaki contributes to various academic research projects and leads several workshops.

Awards(2025`26):

Germany´s Jazz Women of (2026)
InterContinental Music Awards `Best European Jazz`(2026)
Nominierung der German Record Critics’ Award (2026)
Nominierung Opus Klassik with Trickster Orchester (2026)

WDR Liminal Music Prize with Trickster Orchesta & George E. Lewis (2025)
Global Music Award Aroma (2025)