MYRSINI BEKAKOU is a Berlin-based musician, composer and improviser whose work moves between contemporary jazz, improvisation and experimental chamber music.

Her work draws on a wide range of influences, from contemporary jazz and noise to Greek traditional music, bringing together composed and improvised material, chamber-music aesthetics and experimental approaches to sound. Rather than treating the violin as an end in itself, she approaches it as a medium through which she explores music, sound and creative expression. Through violin, electronics and extended techniques, she is interested in creating spaces where different musical languages can meet without being confined to a single genre.

Alongside her artistic work, she also works as a studio musician, contributing violin and improvisation to recording sessions and album productions.

BACKGROUND
Born in Crete, Myrsini Bekakou began studying classical violin at the age of six with Miltiades Papastamou. After completing her classical violin studies in Greece, she moved to Germany in 2018 to study Jazz Violin at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig, followed by a Master’s degree in Jazz Violin and Composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Her teachers include Michael Wollny, Werner Neumann, Thomas Prokein, Zach Brock, Gregor Hübner, Mateusz Smoczyński, Christiaan van Hemert and Biliana Voutchkova.

PERFORMANCE COLLABORATIONS
Myrsini Bekakou has performed across Germany, Greece, Austria, Ukraine and China, appearing at festivals and venues including Moers Festival, Leipziger Jazztage, JazzHall Hamburg, b-flat Berlin, Donau115 Berlin, Porgy & Bess Vienna, Birdland Hamburg, NICA Jazz Club, Bauer Studios, Detect Classic Festival, Interzone Festival and LeipJazzig Festival.

She has collaborated with various artists and ensembles, including Petros Klampanis, Bodek Janke, Moritz Sembritzki, Almut Kühne, Raymond MacDonald, Claudio Puntin, Ideal Orchestra, Nuhussel Orchestra, SPIIC Ensemble, Michel Schroeder Ensemble.

RECOGNITION SUPPORT
Myrsini Bekakou’s artistic work has been supported and recognized through grants, scholarships and residencies, including Initiative Musik, the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen, Freundeskreis der Bauer Studios and the Banff Jazz & Sonic Arts Residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. In 2026, she was nominated for the German Jazz Prize as a member of the Ideal Orchestra for Large Ensemble.

TEACHING
Alongside her work as a performer and composer, Myrsini Bekakou teaches violin, jazz improvisation and creative music-making. Her teaching draws on both her classical and jazz background, with a focus on developing individual musical expression, improvisation and a versatile approach to the instrument.