Young Artist Alexia Daphne Eleftheriadou is a London-based Greek pianist. A winner of the Company’s prestigious Harriet Cohen Bach Prize (Royal Academy of Music), Alexia’s remarkable talents have led to performances at venues including the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh and the Greek National Opera recital hall. Alexia tells us more about her inspiring musical journey.

What is your earliest musical memory?

There are so many from my early years but one that stands out vividly is getting together with family friends and playing Greek music – my dad on the bouzouki, his friend on the guitar and everyone else joining in with singing. It was a very warm and wholesome atmosphere. Despite no-one else in my family being a professional musician, I was lucky there was always a lot of music in our home.

Why did you choose to play the piano?

It came very naturally to me. My older sister played the piano and I can recall my excitement every week when her piano teacher came to teach. The piano teacher, who later taught me, still remembers how as a three-year-old I would take my little yellow plastic chair and sit beside them and watch. At some point I started trying to imitate her or finding out how to play songs I liked and soon after my parents gave me piano lessons too.

What achievements have brought the most joy?

I’ve come to realise that my most fulfilling performance experiences don’t necessarily align with what might be considered the biggest achievements on paper. An achievement for me is very personal, very much tied to my on-stage experience and whether I’ve felt I offered something meaningful to the audience.

A memorable example occurred a few years ago when I had the opportunity to play a recital in a Greek village. There was no piano in the village, so they had to bring an upright one from the nearest city. I remember how much I enjoyed performing, being deeply focused on the music and spontaneous on stage, but also the genuine appreciation of the audience afterwards as they almost never get to experience these types of concerts there. It was an incredibly fulfilling and joyful experience that I’ll always cherish.

Hear Alexia perform on her YouTube channel 

Who is your favourite composer and why?

That’s a difficult question to answer as there are many composers I absolutely love, but I’ve always had a soft spot for J.S. Bach. Apart from the fact that I simply love his music and get deeply moved by it, I adore practising it. His writing allows for a high degree of creativity, experimentation and spontaneity during practice and performance. I find this truly inspiring and I personally feel it creates a space conducive to flow state – or getting in the zone – which usually defines the most blissful moments during performance. There are of course many more reasons why I love Bach but I’ll just stick to that for the sake of this Q&A!

How will you continue challenging yourself as a pianist?

At this stage I feel that the most important aspect of my musical development is probably performing as frequently as possible. Having that as a driving force, I will mainly keep exploring new repertoire and would also like to develop different skills that reinforce a creative mindset like different types of improvisation or exploring other genres of music on the side.

What upcoming performances are you working towards?

I have some solo and chamber music recitals coming up. Most of them are with Clio Duo, a viola-piano duo I formed with Inis Oírr last year. I try to update my website relatively often so you can usually find my upcoming concerts on the link below.

Find out more about Alexia at alexiadaphne.com

Interview by Suzy Willmott

Suzy is freelance copywriter who works with the Musicians’ Company