PHOTO COURTESY FRANCISCO LOERA
UTRGV’s Mariachi Aztlán brought the first ever mariachi opera to the Rio Grande Valley, collaborating with a hospital to perform “Cruzar la Cara de la Luna” at its benefit on Oct. 11 in the Performing Arts Complex on the Edinburg campus.
“A Night with Driscoll” benefited Driscoll Children’s Hospital, and all proceeds went to its arts therapy program, according to the hospital’s website.
“We always wanted to bring back the ‘Cruzar la Cara de la Luna,’” said Francisco Loera, mariachi director and senior lecturer in the School of Music. “… We did it back then in 2010 … with the Houston opera.”
David Moreno, mariachi assistant director and mariachi trumpet lecturer in the School of Music, said Dahlia Guerra, founder of Mariachi Aztlán, has a nonprofit foundation and wanted to bring the opera to the Valley, so she got in contact with Driscoll to make it happen.
Moreno said Mariachi Aztlán was able to perform with its original cast members from the first performance.
The group started preparing for the show a week before school began, twice a week until the event date, according to Loera.
“The purpose … was to promote … the art, promote mariachi, promote the opera, the culture, and also it was for the Driscoll Children’s Hospital, so it was a charity event,” Moreno said.
Loera added the event also benefited the mariachi as the students got to experience the mariachi opera for the first time.
“It’s different than them having a concert and playing rancheras,” he said. “And it’s still ranchera mariachi music, but it’s a different type of setting.”
Moreno said the mariachi group had collaborated with Driscoll before because there was a charity event two weeks prior to “A Night with Driscoll” in Corpus Christi.
“Hopefully, we can continue collaborating with [Driscoll],” Loera said. “… I think there was talks to bring back [the opera] next year.”
“Cruzar la Cara de La Luna” is an immigration story about a family whose dream is to have a life in the U.S. The father travels first to settle; however, a tragedy strikes on his wife and son’s journey, a love-story tragedy, according to Moreno.
He said the event brought awareness to the culture of mariachi and what it can do.
“[It is] not just performing mariachi songs, it’s … playing a whole opera benefitting us in allowing the community to see the cultural location,” Moreno said.
