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Regional Mariachi Festival Brings Award-Winning Mariachis to Teach A Full-Day Music Workshop in Denv

Students of all ages learn from award-winning mariachi masters at the Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival, ending in a concert showcase of 200+ student musicians.

By Latino Cultural Arts Center

Collage of mariachi musicians and groups: guitarists, a violinist, trumpeters, a woman's portrait and a "Mariachi Sol de mi Tierra" photo.
Flyer for the 4th annual Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival, Feb. 15, 2020, at MSU Denver's Auraria Campus: master workshops and evening concert

The Latino Cultural Arts Center of Colorado and Metropolitan State university of Denver College of Music is presenting the 4th annual 2020 Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival on Saturday, February 15, 2020, at the King Concert Hall on the Auraria Campus in Denver.

Red-brick King Center building with the downtown Denver skyline and a historic church behind it on a sunny day

The event provides workshops for students of all ages; including those in elementary, middle, and high school, as well as university and community participants from Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming. Throughout the day, students are taught by professional and award-winning masters of mariachi in music, song, and instrumentation (trumpet, violin, vihuela, guitarron, voice), and ensemble performance. The day will culminate in a spectacular Mariachi Concert showcase featuring over 200 students in their respective performance groups. For the last three years, we’ve had the pleasure of presenting sold-out shows with the tremendous support from our community.

Mariachi ensemble in black charro suits performs in a bright domed room with columns beside a podium

Mariachi is an essential part of the mosaic of American identity. It unites all people in a fiesta of sound that excites both listeners and participants. Attendees gain an appreciation of the richness of the Mexican culture and an understanding of history through music. Musicians and singers gain a sense of enjoyment by learning about the vast repertoire of compositions with lyrics that tell a story of life, love, challenges, and historical figures. Highlighted themes include love, betrayal, death, politics, heroes and can be performed anywhere and anytime and is not limited to stages. Mariachi is a unique musical genre because of the instrumentation; guitarrón and vihuela that are only played in mariachi. Methods and styles include Son Jalisciense, Bolero, Huapango, Ranchera, Corrido and Waltz. Performers wear traditional Mariachi clothing known as traje, as they honor their past and celebrate the present.

Black-and-white photo of a mariachi singer in an embroidered charro jacket singing into a microphone, with musicians behind her.

This unique opportunity to showcase Mariachi regionally empowers the youth to continue their professional careers as Mariachi musicians and instructors. Sessions range from beginner, intermediate and advanced skill levels. Recording artists, composers, and arrangers who will teach the classes include: Dr. Jeff Nevin, an award-winning composer and author of Mariachi Mastery, a series of educational materials for educators and students. His mariachi, Mariachi Champaña de Jeff Nevin, have traveled internationally on behalf of the U.S. Department of State as cultural ambassadors; Chuy Hernández of the Grammy Nominated Mariachi Sol de México from Los Angeles, California; John Contreras from the national award-winning Mariachi Aztlán of Pueblo High School and former member of the Changuitos Feos (who later became the Disney Mariachi Cobre) and Mariachi Tlaquepaque from Tucson, Arizona; Rebecca Gonzales from the Mariachi Tesoro in Los Angeles and the First Professional Female Mariachi in America and former member of the Grammy award winning Mariachi los Camperos; Members of the Mariachi Sol de Mi Tierra of Juventino Romero; and Dr. Lorenzo A. Trujillo, Director and Professor of the Mariachi los Correcaminos de MSU Denver. Along with many more.

Pricing for Festival

Students participating in the 2020 Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival Workshop & Showcase pay $25 tuition and that includes lunch, music, and concert attendance.

Ensembles may register for an individual Master Class with Jeff Nevin for an additional $250 per group.

Single Concert tickets are available to the public for $15.

More information is available at (303) 615-1010 or at Ltruji12@msudenver.edu and tickets are available from the King Center Box Office at (303) 556-2296,

or visit https://www.msudenver.edu/music/events/vivamariachi/.

#Events #Mariachi #MsuDenver #VivaSouthwestMariachiFestival

Photos from the 2020 Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival

Black-and-white view of a large group of mariachi students with violins and guitars rehearsing with a conductor in front.
Two smiling men pose indoors beside framed portrait photographs; one wears a white polo with embroidered text
Black-and-white photo of young musicians with guitars and a violin in rehearsal as a man in a jacket addresses them
Black-and-white photo of four young people singing from printed song sheets in a rehearsal room.
Black-and-white photo of students playing violins in a group rehearsal, one violinist standing at center
Black-and-white photo of an older man conducting a row of student trumpet players in a rehearsal room

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