Carlos Jáquez — known online by his longtime handle "Jaqueca" — is a Dominican concert violinist, arranger and music educator from Santiago de los Caballeros, based in Hollywood, Florida. A musician since 1978, he belongs to the quiet backbone of orchestral life: the first-violin desks and concertmaster chairs of symphony and pops orchestras in the United States, as well as pioneering ventures bridging classical counterpoint and popular traditions in the Dominican Republic.

Career

Formed at Santiago's Colegio De La Salle, he studied at Florida International University on full scholarship under Cathy Meng Robinson and the Miami String Quartet, followed by advanced studies in Düsseldorf, Germany with Hans-Christian Siegert and masterclasses with Isaac Stern. In Santo Domingo he taught violin at the Carol Morgan School and the Academia Dominicana de Música, arranged works for the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, and served as musical director and arranger of Mozaribe, a 1990s fusion ensemble created with composer Frantoni Santana that wove classical violin into Dominican merengue (album «Apurando el Paso», 1993). In the United States his appointments have included assistant concertmaster of the Florida Lakes Symphony, acting assistant concertmaster with the Charlotte Symphony, principal with the Miami City Ballet orchestra and concertmaster of Miami's Sociedad Pro Arte Grateli, alongside seasons with the Palm Beach Pops, Boca Pops, Florida Grand Opera and the Symphony of the Americas. As a first violin of the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, he was featured as soloist in March 2023 performing Ennio Morricone's «Cinema Paradiso» love theme and Béla Bartók's «Violin Rhapsody No. 1». In 2019, Dominican composer Fredy Marius dedicated his chamber work «Fantasía para Violín», Op. 38, to him.

Legacy

Carlos Jáquez's career embodies the discipline of the classical tradition carried across borders: from classrooms in Santo Domingo to leading Florida concert desks, and from a Dominican composer's dedicated score to the violin arrangements that fused symphonic craft with the rhythms of his homeland.