About us

Elena Jáuregui (violinist) and Francisco Javier Jáuregui (guitarist) formally made their debut together at the Carmen de los Mártires Palace in Granada in 1997 as Dúo Roncesvalles. The Duo takes its name from an emblematic village on the Camino de Santiago in Navarre, where their parents got married.

Since then, Elena and Francisco Javier have performed together throughout Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Iceland, France, Germany, Malta, Morocco and Southeast Asia in festivals such as The City of London Festival (UK), Festival de Segovia and Clásicos en Verano de la Comunidad de Madrid (Spain), and in venues such as St Martin–in-the-Fields, LSO St Luke’s (London) and the European University Institute (Florence). Their music has been aired in a number of radio and television stations, including the Spanish National Radio and Television.

The Duo’s repertoire includes many different styles and periods but it has a particular emphasis on Spanish, Latin and contemporary music. Although the violin and the guitar is an unusual chamber music combination, a number of renowned composers have written for it such as Niccolò Paganini, Joaquín Rodrigo and Jacques Ibert. Elena and Francisco Javier, together with Icelandic mezzo-soprano Gudrún Ólafsdóttir, form the Aglaia Trio, an ensemble that has performed extensively and recorded the album Secretos quiero descubrir.

New music forms an important part of the Duo’s repertoire. They have premiered many pieces which were written by composers specifically for them as well as in collaboration with other chamber partners in different parts of the world. Some of these composers include Agustín Castilla-Ávila, John Barber, Ivor Bonnici, David del Puerto, Hugi Gudmundsson, Þóra Marteinsdóttir, Polina Medyulyanova, Eduardo Morales-Caso and Hideyuki Takemoto. Francisco Javier frequently makes transcriptions for violin and guitar from other sources and has also composed music for the Duo.

CD - Jardín bajo la luna

Jardín bajo la luna - CD Artwork

Jardín bajo la luna (Garden Under The Moon) is an album that we decided to record to celebrate twenty years of playing together professionally as Dúo Roncesvalles since our debut in Granada in 1997. As siblings, we have been making music together for as long as we remember.

This album is the fruit of several long-lasting collaborations with award-winning composers David del Puerto, John Barber, Eduardo Morales-Caso and Agustín Castilla-Ávila, and also includes a piece by Phillip Houghton, as well as two short pieces written by myself (Francisco Javier). These works, many of which are world première recordings, show the varied and wonderful soundscape that this unusual instrumentation can bring to life.

 

Listen to CD on Spotify

 

Buy a CD (physical copy)

Duo-Roncesvalles-Outreach

Outreach

Elena and Francisco Javier believe in the importance of bringing music to everybody and of offering everyone a chance to participate in the creative process of music making, which should not be reserved just for musicians! The Roncesvalles Duo have always tried to find ways of taking music beyond the traditional concert hall, but it was after moving to the UK when they discovered the wide range of possibilities in this field while studying their MMUS at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2002 the Duo was awarded a place in the professional apprenticeship programme run by Connect in London, gaining valuable experience in various outreach projects. Since then, it has since been involved in many community and educational projects in the UK and has started up a number of projects of its own in Spain, mainly in Northern Spain as part of FIMNa (The International Music Festival of Navarra).

They have worked with organizations such as Wigmore Hall, Spitalfields Festival, Aurora Orchestra, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Connect. They have been part of the Chamber Tots in the Community Project (Wigmore Hall) since 2002, bringing their music to nurseries all over London.

 

© Duo Roncesvalles 2018

www.duoroncesvalles.com

info@duoroncesvalles.com

www.elenajauregui.com

www.javierjauregui.com