Elena was born of Mexican-American parents in East Oakland, California. After Skyline High School she studied at Mills College and at the age of only twenty she was appointed Lecturer in Flute at Stanford University.

After two years she resigned her post at Stanford to resume her studies in Europe with Jean Pierre Rampal, Alain Marion, Aurèle Nicolet and James Galway. Elena then spent the following years based in England, developing a concert career that has taken her all over Europe, the Far East, Australasia, and the Americas. She has played regularly for Queen Elizabeth II and members of the British royal family. She has made concerto appearances and recordings with many major orchestras in the UK, Europe, USA and Mexico. In the US Elena has played with a number of orchestras including the Symphonies of San Diego, San Antonio, San Bernardino, Oakland, Flint and Monterey.

Among Elena's many recordings, she has recorded a wide variety of music ranging from Classical to Jazz and Pop to popular Mexican music, including a hit single with Paul McCartney and two albums with the great jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. Her most recent CD is a recording of her theatre show "México de mi Corazón". Elena has also published more than a dozen collections of music for flute including her latest for Schott & Co, 'Mexican Dances for Two Flutes'.

Elena has appeared frequently on television and radio in many countries and has hosted her own radio programmes in Mexico and the UK. TV-UNAM has recently screened a profile of Elena which shows her work in prisons, along the border and internationally.

In the last three years, Elena has been touring her multi-media show MEXICO DE MI CORAZON, a collection of music and movie clips from Jorge Negrete, Pedro Infante and Javier Solís. In more than three hundred performances, it has been acclaimed throughout Mexico and also at the Edinburgh Festival where Elena gave twenty four performances in twenty five days. She is currently working on her new show featuring the iconic music of one of Mexico's greatest composers Manuel Esperón.

Elena's personal out-reach program is FLAUTA SIN FRONTERAS which has taken her on two tours along the Mexico-US Border ant into jails of Mexico City. More tours are planned along the Border and a number of States have asked her to bring FLAUTA SIN FRONTERAS to them.

Elena has recently been appointed as Mexico's City Ambassador by the Major of Mexico City, the first woman, the first musician and the first bi-national to be so honored.

                                                                                            August 2010