About Elena…
An active ensemble and chamber musician, Elena regularly performs with international Ensembles including Klangforum Wien, PHACE, ÖENM, Ensemble N, Lizard, JANUS and the Vienna Improvisers Orchestra (VIO). She has been a frequent guest at major international festivals such as Wien Modern, Impuls, Warsaw Autumn, the Tongyeong Music Festival (South Korea), and the RESIS Festival. Furthermore, she is the founder and curator of Ensemble Coincidence.
Elena’s academic background includes a Master’s in Performance Practice in Contemporary Music from the Kunstuniversität Graz, in collaboration with Klangforum Wien, and a Master’s in Contemporary Arts Practice (CAP – Musikvermittlung and Community Music) from the MDW in Vienna. She completed her classical clarinet Master studies at Codarts (Rotterdam) with Nancy Braithwaite, and her Bachelor at Musikene (San Sebastián) with José Luis Estellés, Anthony Pay, and Henry Bok (bass clarinet).
Currently based in Vienna, Elena continues to explore the communicative power of the contemporary clarinet within the landscape of modern creation.
A clarinetist and bass clarinetist from the Basque Country, Elena Arbonies Jauregui approaches contemporary music through the lens of narrative and shared experience. She views performance as a form of storytelling, moving beyond the conventions of the traditional stage to explore new, more engaging ways of connecting with the audience.
She leads her own projects and works in close collaboration with composers and artists from diverse fields, using interdisciplinarity and new concert formats as a medium to foster a creative exchange and create meaning through the dialogue between sound and other artistic languages.
Her artistic vision was recently recognized with the First Prize at the Sounding Visions Award 2025 for her project FACES. Her solo career also includes the 3rd Prize at the Sounding Visions Competition 2024, as well as being a finalist in international competitions such as the Grachtenfestival Conservatorium Concours in Amsterdam and the Prix D’Harmonie Competition in Rotterdam.
©Markus Bruckner
Prizes & Scholarships
2025-2026 - Startstipendium für Musik (Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport Austria)
2025 - 1st Prize, Sounding Visions competition by IGNM (Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik)
2024 - 3rd Prize, Sounding Visions competition by IGNM
2023 - Second Round, Clarinet Vacancy Audition, Klangforum Wien (Vienna)
2020 - Finalist, Grachtenfestival Conservatorium Concours (Amsterdam)
2020 - Finalist and Public Prize, Prix D’Harmonie Competition (Rotterdam)
2020 - Outstanding Grade in Artistic Research, selected for Codarts Research Festival
2017 - 2019 - Scholarship for Music Studies, Bizkaia Foral Council (Spain)
2013 - 2nd Prize, 7th Young Basque Musicians Competition