Zofia Helman was born in Radom and studied musicology at the University of Warsaw from 1954 to 1959.
In 1967 she defended her doctoral dissertation on the sound techniques of Karol Szymanowski.
[2] Helman has been a member of the Committee on Art, Academy of Sciences since 1981, and has sat on the Board of the Karol Szymanowski Foundation since 1996.
She has served on the editorial boards of Polish Art Studies, Theatre, Opera, Ballet (Paris), Musicological Review and the PWM Music Encyclopedia.
She is a member of musical and musicological associations including the International Musicological Society, the Robert-Schumann-Gesellschaft Düsseldorf, Gesellschaft für Musikforschung in Kassel, the Société Internationale d'Histoire Comparée du Théâtre de l'Opéra et du Ballet, the Polish Society of Composers, the Frédéric Chopin in Warsaw Music Society and the Karol Szymanowski Musical Society in Zakopane.