Yannis Kokkos, born 1944 in Athens, lives since 1963 in Paris.

Kokkos studied at the School of the National Theatre of Strasbourg. From 1969 to 1990 he worked regularly with the French theatre director Antoine Vitez, first at the Théâtre d'Ivry, then at the Théâtre National de Chaillot, at the Comédie Française, for the Avignon Festival and at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano. Yannis Kokkos created sets and costumes for an important number of opera houses, among others the Paris Opera, the Wiener Staatsoper, Covent Garden, La Scala, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the San Francisco Opera.

Since 1987 Kokkos is also directing theatre and opera works. He staged "Boris Godunov" in Bologna and at the Paris Opera, "La Damnation de Faust" for the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and in Bologna, Racine's "Iphigénie" and "La Thébaide" for the Comédie Française, "Zelmira" for the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, "Norma" for the Opera Bastille, "Tristan und Isolde" for the Welsh National Opera and for Covent Garden, "Tristes Tropiques" by Aperghis and "Onysis le furieux" by Laurent Gaudé in Strasbourg (world premiere), "Outis" by Berio (French world premiere at the Théâtre du Châtelet), "Carmen", "Don Giovanni" and "Tosca" for the Festival in Orange, as well as "Götterdämmerung" for La Scala.

His first set and costumes for ballet Kokkos created for John Neumeier's "Ondine". Later collaborations with Neumeier were "Sylvia" for the Paris Opera Ballet, the
"Odyssey" for The Hamburg Ballet premiered in Athens, and now "Giselle".

Kokkos was awarded the gold medal of the "Laurence Olivier Prize" for the staging, set and costumes of "La clemenza di Tito" for best lyric performance.

At the moment Yannis Kokkos is working on the staging, set and costumes of "Der fliegende Holländer" for Bologna, Aeschylus' "L'Oresteia" for the Epidaurus Theatre, "Cronaca del luogo" by Berio (world creation) and "Medea" by Cherubini for La Scala.