Eleni Ralli

BIO

Eleni Ralli (*1984, Thessaloniki/GR, Basel/CH) got her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Composition from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – Department of Music Studies (2013, class of Dr. M.Lapidaks, excellent), Master’s degree in Composition and Music Theory from Basel Music Academy (2016, class of C.J. Walter, excellent and honorary distinction), Master in Research on the Arts from Bern University (2018, supervisor Prof. Dr. A. Gerhard, insigni cum laude), Specialized Master in Musical Performance (Composition) from Basel Music Academy (2022, supervisors C.J. Walter and Dr. D. Papageorgiou, excellent and honorary distinction), Ph.D. in Composition from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – Department of Music Studies (2022, supervisors Dr. D. Papageorgiou, Dr. R. Brotbeck, C.J. Walter, excellent) and PhD in Musicology at the program SINTA (Research on the Arts, Bern University in Collaboration with HKB, member of the research group NÄMM (2025, supervisors, Prof. Dr. C. Urchueguía, Dr. R. Brotbeck, summa cum laude). She also has a Bachelor’s degree in International, European, Economic, and Political Studies (specializing in the area of Political Studies and Diplomacy), from the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki (2007).

In addition to her background in composition and musicology, Eleni Ralli has pursued specialized studies in cultural management. Since 2023 she has been enrolled in the Master of Arts in Cultural and Media Management at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre. In November 2024, she acquired a certificate in Management of Cultural Units through a supplementary distance-learning program at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.

She has presented her ongoing research about Harry Partch in Festivals like Fermentationstage Basel (January 2015), International Society for Ekmelic Music “Small is Beautiful” (July 2017, 2019, 2021, September 2024), IGNM Basel (Mai 2018) and GMTH (October 2021).

Among her papers are: “Harry Partch”, KDG (Komponisten der Gegenwart) Lexicon Article (2021), “Parallelen und Modifikationen der Notation in verschiedenen Quellen von Harry Partchs Seventeen Lyrics by Li Po. Schwierigkeiten und Transkriptionsvorschläge”, Der doppelte Po und die Musik. Chinesisch-rätoromanische Studien, besonders zu Li Po, Harry Partch und Chasper Po (2021), “Harry Partch’s Enigmatic Musical Notation”, HKB Zeitung, (2020) and “On the benefit of renotating Harry Partch’s Music for understanding and analyzing his harmonic language”, Microtöne-Microtones: Small is beautiful, Volume II (2019).

She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for the academic year 2020-2021, conducting research in the USA on the American composer Harry Partch. In 2025, she was granted a Paul Sacher Stiftung scholarship for research on The Early Works of Jürg Wyttenbach. Additionally, she has been selected as a Pro Helvetia artist for 2024, further expanding her engagement in international artistic and research projects.

As a composer, she attended many workshops, seminars, master classes for contemporary music and was commissioned many of her pieces by professional ensembles like Ensemble Musikfabik, Ensemble Collegium Novum Zürich, Ensemble Phoenix Basel, Ensemble Asamisimasa Denmark, Meitar Ensemble Tel Aviv, Ensemble Platypus, Delirium Ensemble, Ensemble Recherche Freiburg, Ensemble NostriTemporis Kiev, Ensemble Il Suono Gialo Italy, Zone Experimentale Basel, Ensemble for New Music Tallinn, Duo XAMP and her music has been performed in festivals like Labor Beethoven 2020 organized by AdK Berlin, Zeiträume Basel, Biennale fürMusik und Architektur (2015, 2017, 2021), Symposium Studio 31, Basel, Leicht über Linz, Crossroads Salzburg, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemässer Musik and Impuls, Austria, 1st and 2nd Tehran International Electronic Musik Festival, Sound Plasma Tallinn/Berlin and TACEC Festival, Argentina.

Her works have been performed worldwide in countries such as Germany, the USA, Ukraine, France, Switzerland, Greece, Poland, Holland, Israel, Austria, Iran, Argentina, Russia, England, Estonia, Thailand, Slovenia, and Italy.

Her work GO WITHIN for Tenor Saxophone was released in Don Paul Kahl’s homonymous solo album in 2021.

She is a founding member of the contemporary music Ensemble False Relationships and the Extended Endings (founded in 2019), based in Switzerland, Germany, and France.

https://falserelationsensemble.com