Bio

Composer & Sound Artist

Maria Pelekanou is a Greek composer and sound artist based in Bremen, Germany. Her work explores electroacoustic composition, acousmatic music, spatial sound, and soundscape art, often blending voice, field recordings, and multichannel formats to create immersive sonic environments. Her artistic practice focuses on listening as an act of perception and memory, and engages with themes such as identity, ecology, and social narrative.

She studied Music Technology and Acoustics at the Hellenic Mediterranean University (Crete) and holds a Master’s degree in Electroacoustic Composition from Hochschule für Künste Bremen, where she studied with Kilian Schwoon.

Maria’s works have been featured at international festivals and institutions including ZKM Karlsruhe (next_generation), SF Tape Music Festival (San Francisco), Greek Electroacoustic Music Days, ICEM Festival, and the Conference on Acoustic Ecology. Her composition Nach der Stille was included on the 30th anniversary CD of DEGEM and premiered at ZKM, while her 8-channel piece Time is Up was praised for its formal clarity and spatial detail.

In 2022, she was awarded a residency scholarship in Mallorca, leading to the development of the Mallorca Soundmap—a soundscape composition and exhibition project focused on environmental listening. She also performed Musica su due dimensioni by Bruno Maderna with flutist Roberto Fabbriciani, reflecting her continuing interest in bridging historical and contemporary electronic performance practices.

Maria is the co-founder of Noisy Waves, a Bremen-based concert platform that showcases electroacoustic works by women composers, with a focus on social, ecological, and political themes. She is also an executive board member of DEGEM (German Society for Electroacoustic Music), and an active member of HELMCA and REM.

In addition to her creative work, Maria is a sound engineer for Culture Connects, and teaches piano and voice in Bremen. Her work continues to evolve at the intersection of art, technology, and activism—amplifying new ways of hearing and experiencing the world.