Born in Kazakhstan of Greek parentage, Elena Kelessidi first appeared in Greece as Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) at the Greek National Opera. Since then she has sung at the Royal Opera House as Violetta (La Traviata), the Queen of Shemakha (The Golden Cockerel), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Mimì (La bohème), Luisa (Luisa Miller), Giulietta (I Capuleti ed i Montecchi), Liù (Turandot), Amina (La sonnambula), Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) and Marguerite (Faust). She has also sung at the State Operas of Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Vienna, at Opéra-Bastille, the Metropolitan Opera, and in New York, Zürich, Amsterdam, and Tokyo. She has worked with Menuhin, Domingo, Nagano, Chailly and others.