Elias Gustafsson was born in Stockholm, Sweden. At nine years of age, he began learning the tenor tuba and received his first music lessons at a public music school.
He later changed to bass tuba and began his bachelor studies at the Malmö Academy of Music, where his professor was Jens Bjørn-Larsen. His studies continued in Zürich, Switzerland, where he completed his master's degree under the tutelage of professor Anne Jelle Visser. From 2011 until 2018 Elias was engaged as a tuba player with the Royal Swedish Navy Band in Karlskrona, Sweden. In 2018 he won his present position as principal tuba with the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague, Netherlands. Elias has furthermore been engaged as a freelance player in many European orchestras, including The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Zürich Opera, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra and Antwerp Symphony Orchestra.
In 2017 Elias performed in the semi-finals of the Swedish Soloist Prize, Sweden's most prestigious solo competition for young classical musicians.