Eleni Irakleous invites participants to sing and discover their voices through group singing. Based on her experiences as a conductor, musical director, singer-songwriter, arranger, pianist and music teacher, Irakleous will teach participants about creating music with their voice and the group’s voice as the main instrument. To do this, the workshop will investigate ways participants can feel more comfortable with their own voice and the musicality of their body. The workshop will concentrate on the procedure that the musician’s mind undertakes during execution, using the concepts of focused attention, internal comprehension, hearing, imagination and communication. By singing in a group, attendees can directly embody the music and expand on these precise skills of the musician.

To work through and embody these concepts, songs, canons and choral pieces from various places around the world, movement and spontaneity, musical games and vocal improvisations will be used.

Eleni Irakleous is a musician and songwriter. From Dasaki Achnas, Irakleous became involved with classical piano from a young age, which granted her multiple distinctions in pancyprian and international competitions such as the 2003 Evangelia Tjiarri International Piano Competition, the 2004 Steinway International Piano Festival in Hamburg, the 2007 Pancyprian Singing Competition in Nicosia, and the 2007 Panmusica International Piano Competition in Vienna. During her teenage years, she began working as a musician at hotels and lounge bars in Cyprus, and at the age of 18 Irakleous moved to Germany, where she studied classical piano and music education at the Berlin University of the Arts. In 2011 she won first prize in performance and second prize in composition at RIK’s (Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation’s) 19th Traditional Songwriting Competition in Nicosia. She has participated in concerts as a vocalist and pianist in Cyprus, Greece, Germany including the Konzerthaus, the Berliner Dom and the Philharmonie Berlin. In 2013 she composed the music for the theatre performance of Migronauten, directed by Elena Socratous in Berlin. In the same year she began working for the “Berliner Mädchenchor” Berlin State Choir for girls and since 2015 she officially directed the junior choir groups. During her career as a conductor she has participated in multiple seminars, workshops and concerts with musicians and vocalists from Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Albania, Cyprus, Israel and Canada. She has collaborated with the Berliner Konzerthaus Orchestra, the Berliner Kantorei Orchestra and the Schöneberger Chamber Orchestra. In 2016 she was an official speaker at the European Piano Teachers Association conference in Wiesbaden Germany. Irakleous released her debut solo album entitled “Rise Love” via Louvana Records in March 2019, which was met with multiple positive reviews from Cyprus and abroad. She has performed her music in Cyprus, Greece, the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland.