Elias Gyftonicolos was born in Athens. He graduated from the Municipal Conservatory of Maroussi, where he earned a degree in violin graded ‘Excellent’ and a diploma in violin, also graded ‘Excellent’ (class of Socrates Sathoulopoulou), as well as a degree in harmony, graded ‘Excellent’, (class of Konstantinos Evangelatos). He has also attended a course taught by Apollonas Grammatikopoulos and seminars on violin and chamber music in Great Britain and Greece with Car- ol Slater, Susan Stanzeleit, Christos Kanetis and Georgios Chatzinikos. He has played with the Athenian Youth Orchestra and the Greek Youth Orchestra and has worked with the orchestra of the Kapodistrian University in Athens. He has participated in music festivals such as Saadi in Iran and Fimu in France. From 2012, he has taught at the Municipal Conservatory of Maroussi and other schools of music.