With family origins from Pontus and Cappadocia, as a child Kyriakos Kalaitzidis spent much of his time behind the psaltery. He completed his studies in Byzantine music, earned a degree in chant and a diploma as a music teacher, and from the age of 18 he began to systematically study the oud. In 2010 he was included in the publication “The artworks of the most famous oud players in modern history”, which was published in Arabic by the Syrian Academy of Music and includes works by twelve composers; he is the only one from Greece.
Kyriakos Kalaitzidis is considered one of the most important musicians of the Mediterranean. He holds a doctorate in Byzantine Musicology from the University of Athens and since 1988 he has taught a large number of students.
Since 1988 he has been developing a multifaceted work focusing on research, teaching and artistic practice of the music of the Middle East. In 1993 he founded ‘En Chordais’, an institution for the study, teaching and promotion of the musical traditions of the Mediterranean, which intervenes in the musical scene by producing records, publishing books and organising concerts. As Artistic Director of “En Chordais” he is responsible for the development of the curriculum, the musicological editing of publications and the realization of European projects in the framework of international collaborations (MediMuses, MORE, Cantnates des Rives, Extra!, and MELOS).
He was artistic director of the European project MediMuses (2002-2005) with research, educational and artistic activities in eleven Mediterranean countries (www.medimuses.gr), of the “Music of the World” Festival of the Municipality of Thessaloniki (2012) and artistic advisor of the Rialto Ethnic Festival Limassol (2011 – 2014).
He has given lectures, seminars and taught in workshops at Princeton, Harvard, Ca’ Foscari (Venice), Turin, Strasbourg and Guangdong Universities (China), Conservatories of Istanbul, Amman, Beirut and Cairo, Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), Tunis Academy of Music, Holy Cross College (Boston), New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Kuwait Opera House, Unesco Headquarters (Paris), and has presented papers at various international conferences. During the winter semester of 2015 he was a visiting professor at Yildirim Beyazit University (Ankara).