Image courtesy Pasadena Conservatory of Music website
The Pasadena Conservatory of Music (PCM) is now accepting new students into their youth mariachi classes, which begins on Thursday, January 7, and lasts until March 4.
These hour-long “Mariachi Pasadena! Youth” classes will meet every Thursday, and are intended for children between the ages of 12 and 17. Classes are from 5 to 6 p.m.
Students will learn to play and sing mariachi standards in an (initially virtual) ensemble setting. This includes learning songs and instrumental tunes from all over Mexico and Latin America.
Whether you are an experienced mariachi musician or looking to begin playing and singing for the first time, this is your chance to explore vocal technique and instrumental music performance through various genres of mariachi repertoire, including rancheras, huapangos, boleros, instrumentals, and much more.
From Instructor Gustavo Hernandez, you will also learn about ensemble instruments such as the violin, guitar, trumpet, and guitarron. Beginners are welcome, and everyone sings!
Gustavo Hernández García, tenor, began his singing career through the Young Musicians Program of UC Berkeley, where he studied with renowned baritone David Tigner. Before completing his first year of voice lessons, he sang the tenor solos in Handel’s “The Messiah” with the University of Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. His forays into Oratorio and Concert repertoire as a soloist also include Mendehlsson’s “Elijah,” “The Mozart Requiem,” Rossini’s “Stabat Mater,” Mozart’s “Coronation Mass,” and “Vespers,” Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” and “9th Symphony,” Hiawatha’s “Wedding Feast” and others.
Hernández attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and studied under soprano Nikki Li Hartliep, receiving his BM in 2005. During his time at SFCM, He won first prize in the senior vocal category for the Pacific Musical Society and was cast to sing in the film, “Jackson,” written and directed by J.F. Lawton.
Hernández received his MM in Vocal Arts at the USC Thornton School of Music under baritone Peter Lightfoot. While attending USC, he participated in the West Coast premiere of “Miss Lonelyhearts,” sang for tenor Anthony Dean Griffey during a voice master class, serenaded Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú during her visit to USC, and sang abroad on scholarship at the International Lyric Academy of Rome at Viterbo, featured as a soloist in recital and secondary roles in fully staged operas.
Registration fees for the winter quarter classes are $90, or $10 per session. If you are experiencing any financial hardship, you can email PCM at music@pasadenaconservatory.org to request a fee waiver. PCM doesn’t want anyone to miss the opportunity to take this course, so during the pandemic it will be granting all fee waiver requests for Mariachi Pasadena!
To register, visit www.pasadenaconservatory.org/mariachi-pasadena.
For more information, call (626) 683-3355.
