Description: The energy of her temperament immediately transformed the musicians into an homogeneous orchestra conveying finest dynamics, contrasts & tension build-ups
Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, Maria Makraki studied music and received degrees in both piano performance and composition at the Music Academy of Athens, under Pericles Koukos, Elias Voudouris, Alkis Baltas and Uwe Matschke. She was awarded scholarships by the DAAD, UdK and the Franz Schubert Foundation to continue her studies in Germany, and she gained a diploma in orchestral conducting, with the highest distinction, at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) under Professors Hans-Martin Rabenstein and Isai
In 1996, she won first prize at the 5th International Conducting Competition of the Czech Republic and the special prize at the Carl Maria von Weber conducting competition in Munich, establishing thus a long collaboration with the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since then, she has also been a stipendium scholar of the German Music Council (Deutscher Musikrat Dirigentenforum).
Maria Makraki frequently leads, and makes recordings, with prominent European orchestras in England, Germany, Austria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, the Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Turkey and in the USA. She works regularly as a guest conductor with the philharmonic and symphonic orchestras of Berlin, Athens, Bucharest, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, Bochum, Boston, Nuremberg and the Tschaikovsky Symphony Orchestra. Furthermore, she has given concerts in Baden-Baden and Jena, worked