[photo credit: Pasadena Conservatory of Music]
Mariachi Pasadena! was launched by the Pasadena Conservatory of Music in 2019 under the direction of Jaime “Jimmy” Cuéllar, a three-time Grammy Award winner who began performing mariachi alongside his father and uncles at age 12 and later became a member of the world-renowned Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano. Cuéllar leads the ensemble and teaches violin, trumpet, vihuela, guitarrón and arpa. He is joined by voice and guitar instructor Gustavo Hernandez and violin and vihuela instructor Ramon Figueroa.
The ensemble’s repertoire spans Mexican and Latin American mariachi traditions, from regional sones to classic boleros and contemporary arrangements. The program is open to students 12 and older as well as adults, which gives ensemble performances a layered quality — multiple generations holding the same musical conversation at once. That intergenerational quality is part of the conservatory’s broader Common Ground initiative, which uses music-making as a way of building community across the city.
The Pasadena Conservatory of Music, founded in 1985, occupies its campus at 100 N. Hill Ave.
Mariachi Pasadena! Spring Concert will run on Saturday, May 30 at 6:30 p.m. Pasadena Conservatory of Music, 100 N. Hill Ave., in Pasadena. For more information call (626) 683-3355 or visit pasadenaconservatory.org.
