Greek pianist Elena Xydia stands at sunrise on a narrow stone balcony high on Mount Olympus, her piano poised between mist and sky.
As she begins to play, her music drifts across the cliffs, echoing through the sacred mountainside once believed to be the home of the gods.
The breathtaking performance marks the latest chapter of her internationally acclaimed Piano Project, a series that blends music, nature, and Greek heritage into one cinematic harmony.
The Greek flying pianist
Elena Xydia is known as “the flying pianist” for her daring performances in some of Greece’s most stunning landscapes. She has performed on the frozen lake of Kastoria, above the valley of Tempe, on the towering rocks of Meteora, and along the golden shores of Zakynthos. Each setting becomes both stage and story, a dialogue between human expression and the natural world.
In the valley of Tempe, she performed while suspended in the air, surrounded by cliffs rising nearly 500 meters high and the Pineios River winding below toward the Aegean Sea. The image captured global attention, symbolizing artistic freedom and Greece’s untamed beauty.
Music as cultural diplomacy
Beyond her visual storytelling, Xydia’s work serves a deeper purpose: to promote Greece’s natural and cultural heritage through music.
By combining classical repertoire with works by Greek composers, she transforms familiar landscapes into living expressions of the country’s identity. “Each place has its own rhythm,” she explains. “My role is to listen and let that rhythm guide the performance.”
Working alongside filmmaker Paschalis Mantis, Xydia has brought the Piano Project to international festivals from Los Angeles to India and now carries the support of the Greek National Tourism Organization (EOT).
Greek pianist Elena Xydia journey never ends
Her next destination is Croatia’s Trakošćan Castle, where a new holiday performance will soon premiere. Yet, for Xydia, the Piano Project is far more than a visual series—it is a lifelong mission.
“Every performance is a way to remind people that Greece is not only ancient and beautiful,” she says. “It’s alive, it breathes, and it still sings.”
