UTSA Mariachi Los Paisanos

Sunday, September 27th 2009
Feria del Mariachi

The University of Texas San Antonio mariachi ensemble began as a student organization in the fall of 1999. In the fall of 2000, the music department established an accredited course in the university catalog and hired Noé Sánchez to conduct the ensemble. In the fall of 2004, José R. Torres began his tenure as the ensemble's second and current conductor. Under his tenure, the group has become the featured ensemble for all university commencement exercises. The group participated in the 2004 Mariachi Vargas Competition and Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference. In 2005, the group headlined the Día del Mariachi Festival in Alice, TX and also the Institute of Texan Cultures Folk Life Festival. Also in 2005, the group conducted a fall recruitment tour with concerts in Corpus Christi, Laredo, Zapata, and Eagle Pass. Mariachi Los Paisanos is the official mariachi of University President Dr. Ricardo Romo. The group will next perform in concert with the UTSA Orchestra at the "UTSA under the Stars" music spectacular this Friday, April 28, at 7:00 pm under the Sombrilla! Please join us!

José R. Torres joined the faculty of the department of music at the University of Texas San Antonio in the fall of 2004. Mr. Torres lectures on Latin American Music and conducts the mariachi ensemble. He has also created and designed a course "The History and Tradition of Mariachi" which he will offer in the fall 2006. Since 1998, he has taught mariachi in the San Antonio, Somerset, San Angelo, and Southwest ISD school districts. In 1999, he received a graduate research internship at the Smithsonian Institution Latino Music Oral History Program at the National Museum of American History. Professionally he has performed, taught, and worked with some the mariachi industry's top professionals including Los Camperos de Natí Cano, Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, and Mariachi Cobre. This past summer, he directed UTSA's Summer Mariachi Institute, a week long master class for high students and teachers from throughout the state of Texas taught by Maestro Juan Manuel Cortez and Juan Morales both former members of Los Camperos de Natí Cano. Professionally, Mr. Torres is President of "Producciones JT", a company which promotes the mariachi tradition. He directs and performs with "Mariachi Nuevo San Antonio" and San Antonio's first female professional mariachi "Las Eréndiras de San Antonio". Mr. Torres participates as a clinician and adjudicator for mariachi conferences throughout the southwestern United States.