Laonikos Psimikakis Chalkokondylis is Head of Programmes at Sound and Music, the UK's national charity supporting new music. He is a shakuhachi player based in London and has performed with Sam Lee as part of Singing with Nightingales in May 2023. He released his album ‘loess’ in 2022 by Slow Tone Collages, a collection of long, slow improvisations on shakuhachi and live electronics on the banks of River Lea.

In his music, Laonikos explores the relationship between ourselves and the more-than-human: how do we rediscover our place in the larger scheme of things in a way that blends in, that relates creatively and playfully to the world around us? He is a Making Tracks 2020 Fellow and was awarded a DYCP Grant by Arts Council England in 2022. He has performed at the Barbican Centre, Kings Place, Sarawak Parliament and Helsinki City Centre and has appeared on BBC3 and Resonance FM. He is on the Board of the European Shakuhachi Society.