An Interview our newest symphony member – Elina Rubio

Elina Rubio, 29, will join the Utah Symphony this September as its newest member. We asked the violinist to tell us more about her journey. 

Winning an audition at a full-time symphony like the Utah Symphony is many musicians’ dream. How did you prepare for the audition?

I started preparing for this audition a month and a half before. I started by dividing the list into two different groups to work on every excerpt and cover the music in two days. I find it easy to get overwhelmed when the lists involve a lot of music and getting it organized from the beginning to make it more manageable was very helpful for me. 

The two lists I had for two different days allowed me to work more efficiently on every excerpt. I involved a lot of metronome throughout this process, starting at slower tempos to establish the rhythm and settling the intonation was very important to me. Towards the end of my preparation (about a week and a half away from the preliminary round) I started practicing performance – randomly choosing groups or excerpts to cover all the music in three rounds. 

After playing them through, I would repeat the same three rounds but with a metronome and under tempo–just to clean up some parts and make sure I could play the music slower or in case the committee asked me to do that. Finally, I would say I made it a priority to get enough sleep and rest–I did not want to sound tired or burned out so I made it a goal to feel fresh and physically ready to perform whenever necessary. 

Musicians at your level spend years refining their skills. How old were you when you first started playing violin and when did you know you wanted to become a professional musician? 

My mom, Tania Boneva, is a wonderful violin teacher. She used to be the concertmaster of my hometown orchestra in Elche/Alicante (Spain). I grew up knowing I wanted to be a violinist; the stage always felt like home to me. She started practicing violin with me on a regular basis when I was 5 years old, but even before that I had a toy violin that I used to take with me everywhere. 

Sharing music with other musicians and with the public was something I knew I wanted to do since I was a little kid. It was a way to express myself and I found my voice with my instrument very early on thanks to the knowledge passed down from my mom. 

What were some of the challenges you faced along the way?

Artists face all sorts of challenges along the way. There are many lonely moments of uncertainty, of social pressure and of judgement–from ourselves and from others. To a certain extent those same challenges and how we choose to deal with them make us resilient and shapes the commitment we have to our craft. 

Classical music has become a very competitive field. It’s tricky and challenging to focus on your craft without comparison and judgment. A big challenge for me was finding a healthy competitiveness with myself, focusing on becoming a better version of myself through my music and my lifestyle. The journey of building habits to commit to my goals and working on my instrument with patience and adaptability was not linear. It had many ups and downs. 

I have a life motto that has always kept me on my toes: “Train like an athlete, perform like an artist.” I committed to train like an athlete; a core principle of high-level athletic performance is recognizing the difference between fatigue and quitting. 

What would you say to a young musician who hopes to follow in your footsteps? 

Something I would tell to any young musicians trying to succeed in this industry is:  “Doubting yourself is normal. Letting it stop you is a choice. There will always be someone doubting your worth as an artist. Don’t let that someone be you.”

How did you learn you’d gotten the job with the Utah Symphony and what did you do to celebrate? 

I learned right after the final round. They told me shortly after I played. I called my family in Spain right away. 

I remember–it was around 1 am their time– but they were waiting on the line for me to tell them the results. I also remember calling some of my close friends–there was a whole lot of screaming and laughing on the phone! 

By the Numbers

149 musicians applied for the violin audition Rubio won last May.  It was the first time in several years that auditions had occurred. Now that Markus Poschner has been named Music Director Designate, more auditions are expected to be held during the 2025-26 season.