orchestra conductor
"Eleni Papakyriakou has the skills to advance to the first league of the female conductors in Germany!"
"a highly talented conductor, with a clear view of the music and a fine sense of style"
"clear and focused conducting, aesthetic and far from any show"
"technical sovereignty and musical sensitivity"
"thanderous applause and standing ovations"
Biography
Eleni Papakyriakou comes from Thessaloniki, Greece. She completed her studies in orchestra conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Mag. art.) in 2015.
As founder and chief conductor of Sinfonietta Passau (since 2023), Eleni Papakyriakou established her own symphony orchestra, which can already look back on four highly successful concert series. She was awarded the "SYLFF Leadership Initiatives Award" by the Tokyo Foundation in 2024.
After successful guest conducting engagements at the "Louis Spohr" Music Academy in Kassel, Eleni Papakyriakou was appointed director of the academy orchestra in 2025. She was also engaged as a lecturer for instrumental ensemble conducting.
She is also chief conductor and artistic director of the Passau University Orchestra (2016–2019 and again since 2022) and worked for seven years at the Landestheater Niederbayern, where she conducted performances.
Her participation in the international competition "La Maestra Paris" led to a concert with the Orchestre Pasdeloup at the Philharmonie de Paris (Grand Hall Pierre Boulez) in 2021. She has also collaborated as a guest conductor with the Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Academic Orchestra Association.
Agenda
12.12.25 Passau
B. Britten: "A Simple Symphony", W. A. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 K. 488 - Soloist: Fil Liotis, L. v. Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
Sinfonietta Passau
01.01.26 Vilshofen
New Year's Concert Passau District 2026
Sinfonietta Passau
24.01.26 Kassel
Fanny Hensel: Overture in C major, W. A. Mozart: Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major K. 313 - Soloist: NN, L. v. Beethoven: Symphony No. 8
Orchestra of the Music Academy of the City of Kassel "Louis Spohr"
31.01.-01.02.26 Passau
E. Elgar: Salut d'amour op.12, C. Reinecke: Flute Concerto op. 283 - Soloist: Cinci Baglyas, R. Schumann: Symphony No. 3 "Rhenish"
Passau University Orchestra
Press
The interaction with the orchestra is brilliant, also because the orchestra itself is alert, never switches off and is characterised by great unity. This is impressively demonstrated by the winds in Saint-Saëns or in Sibelius' Symphony No. 3: not only are the entries themselves homogeneous, but also the mutual decrescendo after the accent. Papakyriakou's sense of detail is exemplary here, the sum of which results in a wonderfully balanced and rounded orchestral sound.
Here [Sibelius Symphony No. 3], Eleni Papakyriakou focusses entirely on the composer's concentrated expressive will. She guides the musicians smoothly and clearly through the orchestration, energetically demands the increasing rhythmic tempo and finely works out the interplay of the changing motifs and fragments. The symphony ends exhilaratingly and hymn-like.
The Sinfonietta produced a sound that, for all its well-rehearsed precision, sounded free and invigorating. And this natural music-making characterised the evening to the complete satisfaction of the audience.
Philipp Heidepeter, Passauer Neue Presse / Dr. Edith Rabenstein Kulturblog / Kristian Kuhnle, Straubinger Tagblatt
05.2025