Born in Bucharest, Romania, to a family with a good musical tradition - the most notable was his aunt, conductor Eugenia Vacarescu Necula, who led the Romanian Broadcast Society Childrens’ Choir for over two decades, Horia had his first violin lesson when he was three from a colleague of his father who worked in the State Opera House Orchestra. The young Horia progressed quickly, and when he was only six he made his first public appearance. A few years later he started lessons with Paul Ratz, a prominent violinist and concertmaster with the same orchestra, and when he was fifteen he performed for the first time in the company of a symphony orchestra. He attended the George Enescu Music College and the National Music University of Bucharest where he had several teachers, however Ratz remained his mentor. Subsequently, he moves to London where he works for a while with Romanian violinist Eugene Sarbu, and later receives a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music with Levon Chilingirian.