“Helena is blessed with a real jazz voice, timbre from the “old days” – impressive...
It all comes with ease – remarkable high notes and a contrasting intimate sound happen here. Powerful improvisation.”
About Helena
Growing up in a musical family in the Netherlands, Helena was immersed in music since a young age. Trained in drums since the age of 14, Helena was first exposed to jazz by participating in jazz workshops and courses in jazz drums during her university studies (Marine Biology) in Amsterdam. She was a member of a folk/pop band, in which she played cajon, djembe and ukulele, and sang backing vocals to Dutch and French originals by Annemarie Brijder.
Her interest in jazz and her passion for singing led her to seek vocal training with established Rotterdam singers and educators Ntjam Rosie and Ai Ming Oei.
After Helena's participation as jazz vocalist in a North Sea Jazz Round Town Jazz Recordings workshop series, led by established double bass player Stefan Lievestro, she knew she wanted to seriously pursue singing. The workshop series resulted in a performance during the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam.
In April 2017, Helena received intensive coaching by Rory Stuart (guitar), Camila Meza (vocals) and Jason Palmer (trumpet), when she participated in the Jazz @ Red Dot workshop in Singapore, organized by JazzAsia.
After winning the Montreux Jazz Voice Competition Singapore, Helena secured a spot in the semi-finals of the Montreux Jazz Voice Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland: "an incredible experience!"
Helena is currently working on an original contemporary jazz album 'The Blue', together with Singaporean award-winning composer-pianist Tze Toh.
She recently relocated from Singapore back to the Netherlands. Helena has an MSc in Marine Biology (UvA) and Environment & Resource Management (VU) and is passionate about protecting the marine environment.