High school students from the Pilsen-based Chicago Mariachi Project (CMP) are elated to have received First Place from one of the oldest mariachi conferences in the world, in New Mexico, last week.
The Chicago team included young musicians from Juarez Academy, Kanoon Magnet School, Lincoln Park High School, Whitney Young High School, Mother Macaulay High School, Trinity High School and the UNO charter network.
Also represented at the 27th Annual Mariachi Spectacular of Albuquerque were students from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Texas, and attracted participants from New York City and elsewhere on the East Coast, as well as Mexico.
The yearly conference offers workshops with iconic mariachi musicians, and culminates in a showcase concert.
“We are truly humbled and honored to have represented the City of Chicago, our artform and mission of Elevating the Art of Mariachi, there. I am so proud of our students, families and team. This more than anything else puts Chicago’s mariachi education movement on the map on a whole different level,” said Álvaro R. Obregón, founding president of Chicago Mariachi Project.
In addition to winning first place in the high school category and third place overall, CMP performed on an Albuquerque TV morning news show through KRQE; and played the national anthem and halftime show at a professional soccer game between Albuquerque Sol FC and FC Boulder.
CMP currently runs programs in five Chicago Public Schools and partners with nonprofits, community and arts organizations such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Music Festival, Ravinia, Old Town School of Folk Music, Little Village Chamber of Commerce, Eighteenth Street Development Corporation, Frida Kahlo Community Organization and others, to expand opportunities for these talented young musicians.
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