Awards
The Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture in Vienna honoured him with a special Grant Award as the best student at Mozarteum during the academic year 2001/02. Furthermore, he was honored with the Academic Excellence Award from the Chancellor of Mozarteum. He also received numerous awards from such institutions as the A.G. Leventis Foundation Paris, the European Centre for the Arts Hellerau in Dresden, the Hinrichsen Foundation London, the Academy of Arts Berlin, the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria, the Allianz Cultural Foundation Munich, the Art-Foundation Baden-Württemberg, the Otto-Mauer-Fonds in Vienna, the Academy Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart and the Republic of Cyprus.
The premiere of "With a Pair of Scissors and Thousand Threads" by the Cambridge University New Music Society (2002) was among the first international successes he achieved. Another early success was the performance of "Antidoron" (Holy Bread) for electronically amplified string quartet: First Prize at the Lutosławski Award international composition competition in Warsaw (2004). The premiere followed in the Warsaw Philharmonic with the Rubinstein Quartet.
Subsequently Elia was awarded a number of international composition prizes: First Prize at the Edison Denisov competition in Moscow, First Prize and PWM Edition's Special Prize at the Kazimierz Serocki competition in Warsaw, First Prize "Recherche" awarded by the Mozarteum Salzburg, the Klangspuren Festival Schwaz Tyrol and the ensemble recherche Freiburg, the Patronize Award of the BMW Musica Viva and the Bavarian Radio in Munich, the HofKlang First Prize of the Society for Arts and Critics Leipzig etc.
In 2007 he was awarded the Theodor-Koerner-Fonds Composition Prize and lauded by the Austrian Federal President in Vienna. In 2009 he was awarded the Achievement Award by the Minister of Culture in Cyprus. In 2010 he was voted "Artist of the Year" in Cyprus and elected President of the "New Works" Music Festival in Southampton.
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