Athanasiadis, after completing his piano and advanced theory studies (harmony, counterpoint, fugue) at the National Conservatoire of Athens, moved to London, England.
[3][1][2] He studied composition at the Trinity College of Music with Daryl Runswick, the Royal Academy of Music with Paul Patterson, and finally at the Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU), in Canterbury, Kent, England, where he obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) dissertation[4] under the supervision of Roderick Watkins and Paul Patterson supported by the Research Studentship Award.
[3] Based at the Tokyo University of the Arts as a Special Foreign Researcher, he composed new works for Western and Japanese instruments with a particular interest on the shō (mouth organ) and the 20-stringed koto.
Some of those works were presented in a series of concerts culminating to a large-scale performance project that took place at the Sogakudo Hall on 23 January 2011.
The same year he was awarded the JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (November 30, 2011 – November 29, 2013)[5] for the second time to further his research with Research Subject The Japanese Aesthetic of Wabi Sabi and its Potential in Contemporary Composition[6][7] and support the composition of new works for Japanese and Western instruments and their performance in both Japan and Europe.