Katerina Chatzinikolau

Violinist Katerina Chatzinikolau has been hailed by the Rheinische Post as a musician of "sparkling vitality and virtuosity". She has made significant strides in her career, including becoming the first-ever female concertmaster in the history of Greece. Since 2023 she is holding the concertmaster position of the Athens State Orchestra. She has held prominent positions as concertmaster of the Duisburger Philharmoniker at Deutsche Oper am Rhein and of the Bergische Symphoniker.
Her solo debut with conductor Christoph Eschenbach at the International Kalamata Music Days in July 2022 marked a significant milestone. Katerina is a multiple award-winning artist. She is winner of the first prize of the Golden Classical Music Awards, the eMuse International Music Competition, the Thöne International Competition and a prize winner of the London International Music Competition, the Panhellenic Young Soloists Competition and the Alois Kottmann Prize.
Katerina is a tireless explorer with a great desire to offer new artistic approaches. She produces her own music videos that reflect her creativity and remarkable technical skills as virtuoso in original compositions for violin solo. Her videos on Youtube and Instagram reach millions of people worldwide.
As a soloist she has been invited to perform at prestigious venues the Cologne Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, the Tonhalle Düsseldorf, the rbb-Rundfunksaal Berlin, the Royal Theatre of Thessaloniki, the Beethovenhalle Bonn, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, the Liederhalle Stuttgart and the Ruhrtriennale.
As a chamber musician Katerina played in famous concert halls around the globe such as Beijing Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Lanxess Arena Cologne, the BarclayCard Arena Hamburg, the Allianz Arena Munich & Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, National Theater Kuala Lumpur, Singapore Raffles Center.
She has performed with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Bremerhaven Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, Athens Philharmonia Orchestra, Vamos Orchestra, Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester Köln, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen and Cognimus Kollektiv.
In addition, she received numerous scholarships reflecting her dedication and excellence in music from Tarisio Auctions, the Horst and Gretl Will Foundation and the Franz and Christel Kuhlmann Foundation. She has received a scholarship from "Yehudi Menuhin - Live Music Now" and has been awarded the NRW scholarship, the E.ON scholarship fund and a DAAD scholarship.
Katerina began her musical studies in Greece (Goumenissa/Kilkis) and continued her studies at the Pre-College of the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf with Prof. Alexander Kramarov. She is a Master's graduate of the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne where she studied "Solo Violin" with Prof. A. Daskalakis as well as Musicology.
As a recording artist she has been broadcasted at German and Dutch TV some of which have been nominated for Cannes International Series Festival.