Ximena

She has always sung. Music has always been—and continues to be—a constant and familiar companion in Ximena’s life, both on sunny days and on bad ones.

Singing has always been her greatest hobby, a way for her to escape the daily grind. No one could have predicted whether she might one day become a singer, because in the formerly communist state of Romania, where Ximena grew up (in the beautiful city of Timisoara, located in western Romania), there weren’t exactly many opportunities to pursue the arts. Although she sang in the choir at school, the school choir was only her second priority—she preferred math.

It wasn’t until she left Romania with her parents and older brother and emigrated to Germany that Ximena began training her voice and took singing lessons from various vocal coaches. But it wasn’t until she met Cosmina Cordun-Stitzl that she was able to truly benefit from the lessons. From 2000 to 2002, Ximena was a member of the gospel choir “Voices of Spirit,” directed by Robert Kast. The proceeds from the choir’s various performances were donated to UNICEF. Although Ximena enjoyed singing in a choir, the group gradually disbanded, so she had to leave. She did not, however, stop singing. She participated in various talent competitions, and as luck would have it, in 2001 Ximena met producers Tanassi Koulidis and Theo “T.C.” Chalkias. “This is the best thing that could ever have happened to me,” she told herself at the time. The idea of rehearsing songs, singing, and making music in a real studio immediately appealed to Ximena. From then on, she was a member of the “APOLLO” project.