Downtown Tucson will come alive next weekend with trumpets blaring and the rich sounds of the complementary vihuela and guitarrón, the ubiquitous Mexican guitar siblings that give mariachi music its signature sound.
The 44th La Frontera's Tucson International Mariachi Conference on Wednesday, April 29 through Saturday, May 2, will take over most of the Tucson Convention Center campus on South Church Avenue as hundreds of students from around the region take part in workshops led by masters in the art.
Jiselle Ladriere plays the violin during a workshop at last year's La Frontera's Tucson International Mariachi Conference at the Tucson Convention Center. The event returns next week for its 44th year.
Some of those young mariachi musicians will perform in the popular Armando C. Gonzales Student Showcase on Thursday, April 30, at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave.
Winners will get a chance to perform at the Espectacular Concert at Music Hall on May 1 or Fiesta Garibaldi, the big community-wide event May 2 at downtown's Jacomé Plaza, 101 N. Stone Ave.
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Ballet folklorico dancers are a big part of the Tucson International Mariachi Conference.
Education is a primary focus of the annual conference, which got its start in 1982 and is the country's oldest, continuing event of its kind.
Hundreds of students from grade school to college participate in dozens of vocal, instrumental and dance workshops. They're coordinated by conference music director John Contreras, a longtime mariachi musician who has led the award-winning Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School for more than 20 years; and workshop coordinator Salvador Gallegos, who got his start in mariachi as a kid in the renowned Los Changuitos Feos and leads Mariachi Azteca de Pima at Pima Community College.
Internationally known mariachi leader and composer Jóse Hernandez brings his Sol de Mexico mariachi to headline the Espectacular Concert on Friday, May 1.
Many of the professional musicians performing in the conference also serve as workshop instructors, bringing a real-world approach to vocal and instrumental performance as well as traditional dance.
"Students and instructors are not only taking rich knowledge of music and dance but they are also immersing in the culture," said Compania de Danza Folkorica AZ founder Chantal Ralls, a member of the conference executive board, in a news release.
Fiesta de Garibaldi at Jácome Plaza on May 2 brings fans downtown to celebrate all things mariachi. The event closes out the 44th annual La Frontera's Tucson International Mariachi Conference, which runs April 29-May 2.
Those workshops are intense affairs, running from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Participants get a short break before the El Mariachi Canta Vocal Competition at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento off West Congress Street; and the Student Showcase Concert at 6 p.m. Thursday at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall.
The workshop sessions wrap up with a two-hour session on Friday morning that's followed by student evaluations.
All those valuable lessons the pros impart to the young musicians are put to the test in Thursday's showcase, historically one of the conference's most anticipated events. For a few minutes, the students get to take what they learned and road test it before an audience largely of parents and supporters.
Linda Ronstadt, one of the Tucson International Mariachi Conference founders, headlined the 1986 Espectacular concert and took the opportunity to sing to her father, Gilbert.
But there also are sure to be a few people in the audience whose only proverbial dog in the fight is their love of mariachi.
Mariachi was woven into Tucson's cultural fabric decades before the charismatic Irish Catholic priest Father Rourke formed Los Changuitos Feos — the Ugly Little Monkeys — in 1964. The ensemble, the country's first youth mariachi, has trained generations of mariachi and is widely credited with sparking the national movement for school-based mariachi programs.
Vocalist Giselle-Paris Aubrey and Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School performed at the 2022 Tucson International Mariachi Conference.
San Antonio in 1970 became the first American city to offer mariachi in public schools, a move Tucson closely followed in the early 1970s, offering mariachi and folklorico in Tucson Unified School District schools.
One of TUSD's most prominent ensembles is Contreras's Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School, whose professional-level performances have been widely praised for decades.
Back in time: Conrad Duarte and Mariachi Tesoro de Tucson performed at the 2014 Fiesta de Garibaldi, which recreates Mexico City's famed Plaza Garibaldi, the epicenter of mariachi.
Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High School, comprised of Pueblo High students 14-18 years old, was founded in 1992 and has shared the stage with Rita Moreno, Rufus Wainwright and Tucson's own Linda Ronstadt, who was one of the conference founders.
Ronstadt's 1987 album "Canciones de Mi Padre" featured a trio of mariachi, including Rubén Fuentes's Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán. Fuentes arranged and directed the album, which still holds the record as the biggest-selling non-English language recording in U.S. history at 10 million worldwide sales.
Young mariachi musicians performed at last year's Fiesta de Garibaldi, a community celebration to close out the Tucson International Mariachi Conference.
Mariachi in Tucson might have inched its way into our subconscious as the soundtrack at a Mexican restaurant, but it graduated years ago to headline attraction. Mariachi ensembles draw big audiences to concerts, including Mariachi Herencia de México out of Chicago, which played a full-house show at Fox Tucson Theatre last April; and José Hernández and Mariachi Sol de Mexico's "Merry-Achi Christmas" concert last December at the Fox.
Maestro Hernández is bringing the group back to Tucson to headline the May 1 Espectacular Concert at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, one of the mariachi conference highlights.
Folklorico dancers in spectacular costumes performed at last year's Espectacular concert. Expect them to be on stage May 1 when José Hernández and Mariachi Sol de Mexico take the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall stage.
Hernandez and company are no strangers to Tucson or the conference, going back to their debut in 2013. They also headlined the 2024 Espectacular and led student workshops.
Acclaimed Mexican vocalist Angélica Vargas, a child protegé whose style is seeped in traditional Mexican music, mariachi standards and rancheras, regularly accompanies Mariachi Sol de Mexico.
Here are the highlights of this year's International Mariachi Conference. Tickets ($23.18 adults, $12.51 for kids 8-17 and free for 7 and younger unless noted) are available through tucsonmariachi.org/tickets.
El Mariachi Canta Vocal Competition, 6 p.m. Wednesday at MSA Annex Festival Area, 267 S. Avenida del Convento. The top three finalists in the third-eighth grade, ninth-12th and open community that includes college-age, will compete for a chance to perform at the Fiesta de Garibaldi on Saturday, May 2.
Student Showcase Concert, 6 p.m. April 30 at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Six student folklorico groups and 14 mariachi will show off newfound skills learned at the workshops.
Espectacular Concert with José Hernández and Mariachi Sol de Mexico with vocalist Angélica Vargas, 7 p.m. May 1 at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall; tickets start at $64.55.
Fiesta de Garibaldi, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. May 2 at Jacomé Plaza, 101 N. Stone Ave. downtown; $20, $12.51 for seniors over 65 and children 8-18. The festival celebrates Mexico City's famed Plaza Garibaldi, the epicenter of mariachi music.
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Bluesky @Starburch
Cathalena E. Burch
Reporter
