Manos Tsangaris was born on December 8, 1956 in Düsseldorf, Germany. He studied composition at the Cologne University of Music under Mauricio Kagel from 1976 to 1983 and with Alfonso Hüppi at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Tsangaris began his career participating in the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music starting in 1980, and was a Composer in Residence in Moscow in 1991. He received the Bernd-Alois-Zimmermann-Stipendium from the city of Cologne that same year. Tsangaris' notable works include "Batsheba. Eat the History", which won the Orchestra Prize at the Donaueschingen Music Festival in 2009. He was appointed Professor for Composition at the Dresden University of Music in 2009 and became the President of the Berlin Academy of Arts on May 25, 2024.