Born in Kalamata, Yiannis Kaikis began learning trombone at the Municipal Conservatory of Kalamata with Spiros Faroungias and completed his studies on the trombone at the Municipal Conservatory in Zografos, under Professor Michalidis. He has attended a course in Hague with Pete Saunders, the Athens Conservatory post diploma department trombone course with professors Spiros Faroungias and Adreas Ronaldos Thodoros, as well as seminars with Angelos Kritikos and Nir Erez. With the Army Band, he has participated in European music festivals in Belgium, Hungary, Malta, Czech Republic, Italy, Bulgaria, and Serbia. He has performed concerts for solo trombone and organ in the Catholic Church in Chania, at the Saint Francis Music Festival in Rhodes and the Lutheran Church of Athens. He played in the musical ‘Cabaret’ at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, directed by Konstantinos Rigos. With the Big Band and Jazz Sextet of the Athenian Military Guard, he took part in a tribute to Duke Ellington, ‘From Cuba to the World’ at the Athens Concert Hall, the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Byzantine Museum, the Numismatic Museum and the Athens Jazz Festival 2016-17. From 2015, he has worked with the composer Yiannis Markopoulos for the Pallintonos Armonia orchestra and is a member of the Chambre Symphony Orchestra, whose musical director is Michalis Oikonomou. In 2016, he participated in the Athens and Epidaurus Festival in a production of Antigone, co-produced by the National Theatre, NTNG and CTO.