HR-SINFONIEORCHESTER, ART OF BRASS COPENHAGEN
MAJA HELMES
MUSIC STYLE: Klassik
INSTRUMENT: Vincent Bach

MAJA HELMES

Maja Helmes was born in Copenhagen and grew up there. Her mother wanted her two children to make music and she decided that Maja that should play the violin. But the instrument didn't interest her much. She wanted to play a much more exposed instrument and chose the trumpet. From the age of fifteen, she studied at the Sankt Annæ Music school. Immediately after graduating from high school, she went to England for a preparatory year for music studies (East Sussex Pre-professional Music Course). After that, it was clear to her that she wanted to be a professional musician and she began to study at the Royal Danish College of Music. Here she met the musicians with whom she built one of the most important brass quintets of Europe.

At the end of her studies, she successfully applied for an internship at the Radio-Symphony-Orchestra, Berlin. Besides the musical reasons, she also had personal reasons to come to Germany. Her mother is German-speaking Swiss, but only spoke Danish in the family. Maja wanted to be able to communicate better with her non-Danish relatives. She studied further in Berlin; at first for the diploma and subsequently concert exams. At the end of the internship in the radio orchestra, she was admitted to the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Maja is one of the most capable and experienced young trumpeters of her generation and, right after her studies, became a solo trumpeter of the German Opera, Berlin. After a short time, she switched to the HR-Symphony-Orchestra in Frankfurt, where she still plays today. In addition to her orchestral career, she is very active as an educator and chamber musician. The quintet "Art of Brass Copenhagen", which she founded during her studies and which received several international awards, still plays when the individual players, who are also members of five leading orchestras in three countries, can coordinate their timetables.

As if that were not enough, Maja Helmes is also the mother of three children. Her family life is at least as important to her as her high-caliber, versatile career as a trumpeter. At home, lots of music and football are played, and the kids will decide for themselves if they want to play violin or handball