Angelika Papanikolaou

Angelika Papanikolaou, pianist, music educator, and musicologist, was born in Hanover, Germany, and grew up in Ioannina, Greece. She graduated from the “Epirotiko Conservatory” of Ioannina and the “Orfeio Conservatory” of Athens with the highest distinction, receiving first prize and a gold medal. She pursued studies in piano, Schulmusik, elementary music education systems, chamber music, and Lied accompaniment at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover and the Karlsruhe Music Academy, graduating with the highest honours both in her main degree and in her postgraduate soloist diploma with distinction.

She has taken part in international seminars and masterclasses for solo piano, chamber music, and specialised courses in contemporary technique and pedagogy in Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Greece. She was awarded the Chopin Medallie at the Chopin Festival in Düsseldorf, and has recorded for Polish and Greek radio. She is a member of the German ERTA (European Piano Teachers Association) and of the Federation of Composers of Baden-Württemberg (TKV), with active participation and performances.

As a soloist she has appeared with the Kammerorchester Münster, the Hochschulorchester Hannover, the Kleines Symphonieorchester Harz, the Theaterorchester Braunschweig, and the Goslar Orchester. She has also collaborated with internationally renowned composers such as Arvo Pärt, Thierry Huillet, and Mauricio Kagel. As a pedagogue she has received repeated recognition, and alongside her artistic career she develops and applies innovative methods for teaching early music education, chamber music, and contemporary repertoire.

Her book The Fairy Tale of Pentagram Street [Το παραμύθι της οδού Πενταγράμμου] (Panas Music Editions), together with her Musical Riddles, forms part of these teaching methods. She contributes regularly to Greek and international music journals and newspapers.

She founded and established in Greece the “Musical Kindergarten” [Μουσικό ΝηπιαγΩδείο], offering group lessons in piano, rhythmology, music-and-movement education, and contemporary repertoire for children aged 3.5 to 10 years. She teaches piano, aesthetic rhythmology, choreographic notation and music pedagogy, as well as stylistic approaches to contemporary piano and ensemble repertoire, with a main focus on 20th- and 21st-century music.

She is a founding member of the TerraEnsembleTrio and the Duo ErgOn-a-TastOn, and serves as artistic director of the FrArte Project: “Conversations of the Feminine Gender”. She collaborates with composers from around the world.

Source: Kimolia Theatre