Τhis artistic research aims to explore Amy Beach’s Variations on Balkan themes, opus 60 with focus on the performer’s role of locating, processing and highlighting such elements that fall outside the sphere of the classical western music vocabulary. For this purpose Amy Beach’s work is considered an ideal example since it makes use of balkan folk melodies for its fundamental thematic material. There has been a rising interest in Amy Beach’s works and a multitude of scholars have analysed opus 60 from a musicological aspect. This research will be conducted from the perspective of the performer and will offer practical suggestions regarding the interpretation. There will be a brief overview on the historical background of the piece and a few words about the composer. Later on in the essay, each variation will be introduced and briefly analysed. The goal of this analysis is not to examine the musicological aspects of the work, but to assist the performer to bridge the note material to an organic, engaging performance. Finally, the research is the written part of the performer’s process of navigating the piece and has been transformative in the preparation of its performance.