Our
history
The Ensemble Los Elementos was born in 2018 with the aim of performing for the first time with period instruments the zarzuela Vendado es Amor, no es ciego, by the composer José de Nebra, one of the greatest exponents of Spanish baroque. Founded by Alberto Miguélez Rouco, it is made up of musicians of different nationalities, most of them linked to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland. One of its main objectives is the performance, recovery and dissemination of Spain's rich musical heritage, especially that of the 18th century. In 2019 the group recorded Vendado es Amor, no es ciego by José de Nebra in collaboration with the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis for the Glossa record label, a recording that obtained an excellent national and international repercussion, which led them to perform this zarzuela at the Festival de Amigos de la Ópera de La Coruña in 2020. Their second disc, Cantadas, a solo album by Alberto Miguélez Rouco dedicated to the sacred works of José de Nebra and Francisco Corselli, will be released in 2021, and the zarzuela Donde hay violencia, no hay culpa, also by José de Nebra, in October 2022, being the first world recording of the same.
Recently the ensemble has participated, together with Miguélez Rouco, in the cycle Universo Barroco at the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid with Vendado es Amor, no es ciego; in February 2023 they will revive the great Miserere a 8 by José de Nebra in Basel; and in March 2023 they will perform Donde hay violencia, no hay culpa at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in a production by Rafael Villalobos.
Upcoming engagements include the opening of the Stockholm Early Music Festival in June 2023 and the recording of José de Nebra's opera Venus and Adonis.
Alberto Miguélez Rouco
Musical direction
Alberto Miguélez Rouco began his musical training in La Coruña, where he studied piano and singing. He later moved to Basel to pursue advanced vocal studies at the Musik Akademie with the mezzo-soprano Rosa Domínguez, further complementing his training with studies in acting, vocal pedagogy, harpsichord and basso continuo.
Specialising in Baroque repertoire, he has developed an active career as both a singer and conductor, encompassing opera, oratorio and concert performance. He has worked with conductors such as René Jacobs, William Christie, Georges Petrou, Christophe Rousset, Paul Agnew and Josep Pons, and has appeared as a soloist with ensembles including the Freiburger Barockorchester, Les Arts Florissants, Les Talens Lyriques, Ensemble Elyma, the Trondheim Baroque Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia.
His operatic repertoire includes Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Telemann’s Orpheus, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and Handel’s Partenope and Ottone.
As an oratorio soloist, he has performed works including Caldara’s Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo; Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno; Hasse’s Miserere; Vivaldi’s Gloria; Bach’s St John Passion, Christmas Oratorio and Magnificat; Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine; Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C minor; Saint-Saëns’s Oratorio de Noël; and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater.
During the 2024–2025 season, he was Artist-in-Residence at the Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical (CNDM), where he took part in several projects, including the revival of Francisco Corselli’s opera El robo de las sabinas and Handel’s cantata Clori, Tirsi e Fileno.
With his ensemble Los Elementos, he has embarked on a complete recording project of José de Nebra’s stage works, including Vendado es Amor, no es ciego (Glossa), Donde hay violencia, no hay culpa (Glossa), Venus y Adonis (Aparté), El diablo mudo and La divina Filotea. In 2020, he released his first solo album, Cantadas (Pan Classics). In 2025, he recorded José de Torres’s Requiem for Château de Versailles.
Claudio Rado
Concert master
Claudio Rado was born in 1990 in Treviso, near Venice, and began violin lessons at the age of five. In 2007, he graduated from the A. Steffani Conservatory in Castelfranco Veneto, where he studied with Giorgio Fava. He subsequently continued his studies with Sonig Tchakerian at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In the summer of 2010, he took part in a masterclass led by Giuliano Carmignola at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, where he was awarded a full scholarship and a special certificate of merit.
In 2016, he was selected as a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra (EUBO), where he also served as assistant concertmaster and principal second violin. With the orchestra, he toured throughout England, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium and Croatia, among other countries. As a soloist and concertmaster of ensembles and orchestras, he has worked with Roy Goodman, Stephan MacLeod, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Alfredo Bernardini, Andrea Marcon, I Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, Stefano Montanari, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, La Cetra Barockorchester and Il Pomo d’Oro, among others.
He has performed with these artists and ensembles in some of the most prestigious concert halls in Europe and the Americas, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. In June 2019, he completed a Master’s degree at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, studying with Leila Schayegh, graduating cum laude.
Claudio was invited to take part in Winterreise, a production by the renowned stage director Christof Loy, created in an exceptional collaboration with the singer Anne-Sofie von Otter and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, based on Franz Schubert’s celebrated song cycle and presented at Theater Basel. The production premiered in January 2022.
Claudio is the concertmaster and a founding member of Los Elementos, the Spanish-Swiss ensemble directed by Alberto Miguélez Rouco, with whom he has recorded three albums devoted to the rediscovery of eighteenth-century Spanish repertoire.