Eleni Karaindrou
Biography Eleni Karaindrou
Eleni Karaindrou was born in the Greek mountain village of Teichio. She studied piano and musical theory at the Athens Hellenic Conservatory, history and archaeology at the University of Athens, and ethnomusicology and orchestration at the Sorbonne and the Scuola Cantorum in Paris.
Since 1975 she has composed music for more than twenty feature films, and for more than 40 theatre plays and numerous television productions. Collaborating most often with Greek directors – above all Theo Angelopoulos, with whom she has had an ongoing creative association since 1983 – she has also worked with Harold Pinter, Chris Marker, Jules Dassin, Margarethe von Trotta and others.
Karaindrou has received numerous awards including the State Music Award (Greece) for her music for “Eternity and a Day”, the Dmitris Mitropoulos Award for her music for theatre (1994-96), and the Fellini Award from Europa Cinema, Italy. In 2002 she received the Golden Cross of the Order of Honor from the Greek president, for her life’s work. In 2004 she was nominated for the European Film Award for her music for “The Weeping Meadow”, which was also Oscar-nominated.
Eleni Karaindrou has been an ECM recording artist since 1991, working closely with producer Manfred Eicher in the adapting of compositions originally written for stage and screen for album release. Her ECM discs include “Music for Films”, “The Suspended Step of the Stork”, “Ulysses’ Gaze”, “Eternity and a Day”, “Trojan Women”, “The Weeping Meadow”, “Elegy of the Uprooting” (released in CD and DVD versions) and “Dust of Time”.
