Laura Sobrino

Laura Garciacano Sobrino began playing the violin in elementary school in her hometown of Watsonville, CA when she was eight years old. She received music awards through-out her public education. After graduating from Aptos High School in 1972, her career as a semi-professional mariachi began in 1975 while studying for her B.A. in music at the University of California in Santa Cruz. While in Santa Cruz, Laura performed with Mariachi Santa Cruz and Mariachi Los Caltecas.

After finishing her studies, she moved to the Los Angeles area to perform professionally, becoming the first woman to play in some of the nation's most prestigious mariachi groups, including the Mariachi Los Galleros de Pedro Rey and the Mariachi Sol de México de José L. Hernández. Laura Sobrino is the former musical director and lead violinist for the Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, and is currently the musical director and violinist for the all-female mariachi show group, "Mariachi Mujer 2000." Laura is also involved with mariachi performance through the free-lance circuit in the Los Angeles area.

Throughout those years, she also taught mariachi musicians, young and old, at local colleges and in her home. Mrs. Sobrino has been one of the featured instructors for the workshops at many of the well-known mariachi festivals nationwide. Currently, she instructs mariachi ensembles at UC Riverside (Center for Mexican Music and Dance), East Los Angeles College, Chaffey College and Rio Hondo College. In addition, she is a music consultant at Montclair High School.

In 2004, Laura was inducted into the Mariachi Hall of Fame in Tucson, AZ; and in 2005, Laura was selected by California's First Lady, Maria Shriver, to be an honoree in the "Latinas: The Spirit of California" exhibit in the California Museum for History, Women & The Arts in Sacramento.

Mrs. Sobrino has maintained interest in another aspect of mariachi music, the documentation of the participation of women in this typically all-male music tradition. Her research can be found on www.mujeresenelmariachi.com and www.mariachi4u.com/hwm.

Always interested in mariachi education, it was through these classes that she recognized the need for transcribing mariachi music for the student mariachi musician. For this reason, Mrs. Sobrino initiated her own publishing company in 1995, the Mariachi Publishing Company, which provides quality mariachi music transcriptions. In addition, two of her transcriptions were purchased by the Southern Music Company (Texas) and have been selling world-wide. In February 2002, Mel Bay Publications released "Mariachi Violin Transcriptions," followed by "Mariachi Music for Guitar", both by Laura Sobrino.

She lives in Whittier, CA with her husband, Dan, and two teens, Nicté and Nazul.