Panagiotis Sakkoulas, born in Katerini in 1997, is one of the most dynamic representatives of the new generation of lute virtuosos, serving the art of the instrument with high scientific training and deep respect for tradition. His musical identity was forged through many years of experiential apprenticeship alongside the leading lute teacher and virtuoso Christos Zotos. From this emblematic teacher he inherited the secrets of the “vertical technique” and the “closed positions”, elements that constitute the hallmark of this particular school and which he himself passes on today as the continuer of this great legacy.

His academic career is characterized by excellence, as he graduated from the Department of Music Science and Art of the University of Macedonia with a grade of Excellent (9.25), receiving a distinction award and a scholarship as the top student of the year 2019. In addition to the mainland lute, he delved into the tropical systems of the East by studying the political lute (lafta) and makam theory under the guidance of Socrates Sinopoulos.

As a virtuoso, he has a rich artistic activity with appearances in Greece and abroad (America, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Romania, Austria, Serbia) with participation in music shows on Greek television (ERT1, ERT2, ERT3, ALPHA, 4E), but also in important venues and festivals such as the Athens Concert Hall, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Veria Concert Hall, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, the Acropolis Museum, the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the Liederhalle Stuttgart, the ancient theater of Dion, the archaeological museum of Chania, the N. Kazantzakis Garden Theater, the Avlaia Theater, the Cosmopolis Festival, the Olympus Festival, the Vovousa Festival, the Amphipolis Festival, the “Garofita Pietrei” Festival Craiului” in Romania, but also in many other festivals, music stages, theaters and concert venues.

His credits include notable collaborations with leading representatives of the traditional, folk and artistic music scene, including Petroloukas Chalkias, Manos Achalinotopoulos, Alexandros Arkadopoulos, Nikos Filippidis, Giorgos Kotsinis, Antonis Kyritsis, Panagiotis Lalezas, Katerina Papadopoulou, Manos Koutsangelidis, Vangelis Dimoudis, Chronis Aidonidis, Solonas Lekkas, Yannis Papakostas, Xanthippi Karathanasi, Areti Ketime, Martha Mavroidis, Antonis Andreoglou, Stavros Kouskouridas, Dimos Vougioukas, Andreas Papas, Kostas Meretakis, Giorgos Psaltis, Giorgos Marinakis, Christos Daskalopoulos, Kyriakos Petras, Christos Tzitzimikas, Aris Dinas, Pagona Athanasiou, Lakis Chalkias, Thanasis Halilopoulos, Yannis Goritsas, Stavros Bonias, Vassilis Serbezis, Costas Pavlidis, Dilek Koc, Haig Yazdjian, Yannis Dionysiou, Spyros Siolos, Mehtap Demir, Kostis Abyssinos, Pantelis Thalassinos, Aspasia Stratigou, Giota Nega, Dimitris Zervoudakis, Lizetta Kalimeri, George Kazantzis, Dimitris Bassis, Christos Nikolopoulos, Glykeria, Manolis Mitsias, Gerasimos Andreatos, Petros Gaitanos, Zacharias Karounis, Sofia Papazoglou, etc.

His teaching experience is equally rich, having worked as a lute teacher since 2016 in music schools and since 2020 in Secondary Education Music Schools. At the same time, he has introduced a seminar “the art of the mainland lute” as part of the VOLAX Festival, in Volakas, Drama in 2024. As a teacher, he focuses on the promotion and detailed learning of local musical idioms, using rich and primary educational material based on his personal recordings from his tenure alongside Christos Zotos. With absolute dedication to the aesthetics and pulse of our musical heritage, Panagiotis Sakkoulas combines the knowledge of the past with the dynamics of the new generation, offering a comprehensive and holistic approach to the teaching and interpretation of the lute, capable of inspiring and guiding the new generation of musicians.