Eleftheria Arvanitaki is a distinguished Greek vocalist with a career spanning four decades in Greek music. She has collaborated with top Greek and international creators and has brought her music, as well as the music of her country, to all five continents, performing in historic theaters and festivals. Notable composers she has worked with include Stamatis Spanoudakis, Christos Nikolopoulos, Dimitris Papadimitriou, Nikos Xydakis, Nikos Zoudiaris, Nikos Portokaloglou, and the younger Themis Karamouratidis. Internationally, she has collaborated with composers like Philip Glass, Ara Dinkjian, Teofilo Chantre, and Dulce Pontes. She has performed lyrics by Michalis Ganas, Lina Nikolakopoulou, Nikos Moraitis, Antonis Andrikakis, Lida Roumani, among others. Her distinguished repertoire includes two significant albums of poetry set to music: “Songs for the Months” with music by Dimitris Papadimitriou and “Time Passed Quickly” with music by Nikos Xydakis, featuring poems by Odysseas Elytis, Sappho, Maria Polydouri, Michalis Ganas, Kostas Karyotakis, and Dionysis Kapsalis.
Throughout her career, she has had a series of highly successful personal performances, some of which have become historic live recordings. She has collaborated with some of the most significant Greek artists, including Alkistis Protopsalti, Dimitra Galani, Giannis Kotsiras, and Alkinoos Ioannidis.
Her discography includes albums that have marked modern Greek music. She has a consistent relationship with traditional, rebetiko, and Smyrnaic songs, beginning her career with the Opisthodromiki Kompania, and she always incorporates tradition into the sound and repertoire of her live performances. Her unique timbre allows her to uniquely interpret Western-style songs as well—her voice has often been described as a crossroads between East and West. She is the only Greek singer chosen by the historic label Verve, which includes legendary names like Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie, to record a collection of her music. Most of her albums are released in special editions and internationally. She enjoys particular popularity in Spain, where she has toured consistently every year since 1998, and she has had the pleasure of performing her music and her country’s music in historic concert venues in Greece and worldwide. This includes a pinnacle invitation to perform a personal concert at Carnegie Hall in New York in February 2014.
In reality, Eleftheria Arvanitaki needs no special introduction. She has passionately served her art, continues to create and experiment with new songs and sounds, and continues to honor music. Her latest personal album, titled “The Great Journeys,” is released by Panik Records.