I’m Helena Urbanc and I was born in 2007 in Slovenia. At the age of eight I started taking violin lessons with professor Valentin Štante. In my third year of playing violin, I was also taking violin lessons with additional professor Danica Koren. In 2021 I started studying with professor Zala Rek. I have participated in a lot of competitions, where I received silver and gold awards. My biggest achievements are gold award and second place with 97/100 points at 6th international competition Golden Diapason in 2021, gold award with special prize for the best performance of Händel’s work at Best Classical Musician Awards 2022 and being a soloist for Bach’s Concerto in a-minor, accompanied by Danica Koren’s Summer School orchestra. From the year 2021 on I will also take masterclasses with Sumina Studer.
I usually listen to classical, jazz or rock music, although I like most of the music genres. My favourite artists to listen to are Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses, Eloise and Bruno Major, my favourite composers are Debussy, Saint Saens and Sibelius.
I practice around four or six hours a day. It depends on my mood and how much time do I have. Sometimes I start with technique, sometimes with pieces, because I think that you must be able to play well, even though you didn’t practice technique earlier that day. I like to practice slowly with a drone tone tool and a metronome. My ”must do” in my practice schedule are finger exercises by Henry Schradieck.
Before the competitions I don’t go to the school because that’s the only way I can practice concentrated and without worries about school. So, before the competitions I practice a lot more than usual, practically all day. I have a lot of individual hours with my teacher and accompanist.
My dream is to be a successful violinist as a soloist or as a part of an orchestra or any kind of chamber group. I want to make people happy while I play because I believe music can heal.