Marios Joannou Elia was born in 1978 in Cyprus. He studied at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts "Mozarteum" Salzburg in the composition class of Adriana Hölszky, graduating with the Magister Artium. Additional composition studies led him in the master class of Klaus Huber at the Hochschule fuer Musik Basel. Elia holds Bachelor Degrees from Mozarteum in guitar performance, music education and music theory as well. His education has been enriched with several encounters and master classes for composition and multimedia art with artists like Georges Aperghis, Beat Furrer, Helmut Lachenmann and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Musicological studies at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. As the best student at Mozarteum during the academic year 2001/02, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture in Vienna honoured him with a full scholarship. He was also awarded numerous scholarships from such illustrious institutions as the A.G. Leventis Foundation Paris, the European Centre for the Arts Hellerau in Dresden, the Hinrichsen Foundation Award London, the Akademie der Kuenste Berlin, the Akademie Schloss Solitude Stuttgart, the Hanne Darboven Foundation Hamburg, the Rector's Scholarship and the Academic Excellence Scholarship at Mozarteum, the Federal Chancellor of Austria, the Allianz Cultural Foundation Munich and the Republic of Cyprus. Elia was awarded with numerous prizes, among others: • 1st Prize at the Hof Klang intern. composition competition of the Gesellschaft für Kunst und Kritik Leipzig • 1st Prize at the Counterpoint intern. composition competition "Luciano Berio", New York • Luigi Russolo Prize for electroacoustic music, Annecy/France • Achievement Award under the patronage of the Minister of Culture, Republic of Cyprus • Composition Prize "vocal arts" of the Salzburg Biennale • 1st Prize and PWM Edition's Special Prize at the Kazimierz Serocki intern. composition competition, Warsaw • 1st Prize at the Lutoslawski Award intern. composition competition, Warsaw • 1st Prize at the Edison Denisov intern. composition competition, Moscow • 1st Prize at the cometition "Recherche" for composition, Mozarteum Salzburg/Ensembe Recherche Freiburg/Klangspuren Schwaz • 1st Prize and Special Prize of the Jury at the "Mozarteum" competition for new music, Salzburg • 1st Prize at the Savarez-Corelli chamber music competition, Salzburg • 1st Prize at the intern. composition competition in Volos, Greece • Raiffeisen Classic Prize, Salzburg • Patronize Award at the BMW composition competition of the Musica Viva, Munich • Prize of the Hamburger Klangwerktage, Hamburg • Audience Prize at the Seoul competition for composers, Seoul • Prize of the Sun River intern. composition competition in Chengdu, China • Prize of the Papaioannou composition competition, Athens • Honourable Mention Award at the Frederic Mompou composition competition, Barcelona • Theodor-Koerner-Fonds Prize awarded by the Austrian Federal President in Vienna. Marios Joannou Elia has already been invited as "composer in residence" in Artists' House Luke (Germany), Puchberg Palace Wels (Austria), Visby International Centre for Composers (Sweden) and Stiftelsen Kulturhuset USF (Norway). His academic experience encompasses working as artistic and scientific assistant in the composition department at "Mozarteum", class of Adriana Hoelszky. Elia's compositions achieve regular performances in important concert halls worldwide performed at the Warsaw Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Hanover State Opera, the Stuttgart State Opera, the Expo Athens, the Radio Culture House Vienna, the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ Amsterdam, the Villa Mazzacorati in Bologna, the Hellerau Festival hall in Dresden, the Millenáris-Teatrum Budapest, the Koendori Classics Tokyo, the Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, the Auditorio Público de Abogados in Buenos Aires, the ACMI in Melbourne, the Jerez Teatro Hinojosa (Mexico) and the Qi bai Shi Museum in Xiangtan (China).