Elena Papandreou was born in 1966 in Athens, Greece. She has studied the guitar with Evangelos Boudounis at the National Conservatory of Athens and graduated in 1985 with honors. She continued her studies with Gordon Crosskey at the Royal Northern College of Music, England, on a British Council scholarship, obtaining the Diploma in Advanced Studies in Musical Performance (1986). She has also participated in master classes held by Oscar Ghiglia, Alirio Diaz, Julian Bream, Leo Brouwer and Ruggero Chiesa.

Elena Papandreou gave her first public performance at the age of 15. She has won the First Prize in three International Competitions, "Maria Callas" (Greece), "Gargnano" (Italy...