Ioannis Petrakis was born in 1984 in Chania (Crete). At the age of six he received his first violin lessons, and in 1997 he wins the first prize of the Greek Ministry of Culture Competition. He then furthers his musical training with Prof. Ioannis Lampos at the Municipal Conservatory in Rethymno, earning a diploma in violin with first prize and distinction.

He goes on to study with Prof. Ariadne Daskalakis and Prof. Michael Vaiman at the Cologne University of Arts, where in 20009 he obtains both artistic and pedagogical diplomas. This is followed in 2011 by a master's degree in the orchestra course at the Orchesterzentrum in Dortmund (NRW).

Ioannis Petrakis was a member of the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra in Essen from 2010 to 2015. His orchestral career is also enriched by regular engagements with well-known orchestras, such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Klangverwaltung Orchestra, the WDR Radio Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra, among others. From 2012 to 2020 he worked as a lecturer and concertmaster of the Flora Symphony Orchestra in Cologne.

He is a founding member of the chamber ensemble ‘Les Essences’ with renowned violinist Önder Baloglu, as well as of the ‘Euphonia’ orchestra led by international violinist Rebekka Hartmann.

In 2013 Ioannis Petrakis founds the Evenos String Quartet, which has since won numerous awards and performed at a wide range of international musical festivals. In 2015, the quartet won the first t ian the ‘Paper de Musica’ international chamber music competition in Capellades-Barcelona, and in 2016 it received the first prize from the Köhler-Osbahr Foundation. Since then, the career of the quartet has been enriched by concerts throughout Europe, as well as radio appearances, CD recordings and collaborations with internationally renowned musicians, such as Claudio Bohorquez, Ewa Kupiec, Julian Arp and others.

With the Evenos String Quartet, Ioannis Petrakis completed a master's degree in chamber music in the class of Professor Andreas Reiner. In addition, he went on with 'Konzertexamen' studies in the same class. Apart from its rich concert activities, the quartet has been conducting chamber music projects with young people and adults in Germany, Greece, and Serbia for a number of years.

Ioannis Petrakis worked as a violin teacher at the Cologne Music Academy for ten years. He takes part in a variety of music education projects in Morocco, Sweden and Greece as a violin and chamber music pedagogue. Since summer of 2018, he is teaching violin at the Municipal Music School of Heraklion (Crete) and directs the string section of its youth symphony orchestra.