Viva Southwest Mariachi Conference

The Metropolitan State University of Denver Department of Music along with the Latino Cultural Arts Center (LCAC) welcome you back to the Auraria Campus for the 7th Viva Southwest Mariachi Conference on April 4 & 5, 2025!

Our mission is to build Colorado as a national center for Mariachi excellence by building a pipeline of talent from the community to higher education and professional careers.

This year’s conference will offer opportunities for students to work with master teachers on a selection of songs over the course of two days. The high energy Plaza Garibaldi event in the King Center will return on Friday night. It will be a wonderful weekend of learning and performing. We look forward to welcoming you to Denver!

Lead Maestro

Lorenzo A. Trujillo, Ed.D., J.D. grew up in Denver and spent many summers in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico (eight miles outside of Taos) with his extended family.  He was highly influenced by his aunt, Eva Nuánez, as a vocalist, guitarist, and violinist.  He also engaged his energies in ethnic dance and collaborated with his mother, Marie Orália Durán Trujillo, in the formation of the Southwest Dancers in the early 1970’s.  He taught Mexican Folkdance and Flamenco at the Sangre De Cristo Arts Center in Pueblo, Colorado, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Denver, and at San Francisco State University.  He is the Director of the Mariachi Program at Metropolitan State University in Denver (see Facebook page and webpage LorenzoTrujillo.com).

For over two decades, he was a member of the Mariachi Alegre de San Cayetano where he played violin and sang.  As a musician, dancer, and culture bearer, Lorenzo was awarded the Colorado Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.  He was inducted into the Colorado Chicano Music Hall of Fame and has served on the National Endowment for the Arts as a performing artist, grants panelist, and arts program evaluator.  He was also named a Colorado Folk Artist and Master Teacher by the Colorado Council on the Arts through the Master/Apprentice Program and in 2012 was awarded the Tesoro de Oro by the Tesoro Cultural Center.

Lorenzo formed the Southwest Musicians in the late 1980’s, recording several musical standards that are part of a vast repertoire of regional social dances and popular Mexican music of the early and mid-twentieth century.  Among his recordings are: Musical Traditions of Colorado and New Mexico (Southwest Musicians); Con Cariño (Mariachi Alegre); A Musical Banquet: From Santa Fe to Denver (with E.J. Rodriguez), and, The Golden Age of the Southwest: From 1840 to Hollywood. He has toured in Ireland, Peru and Italy, presenting traditional music, liturgical and classical repertoire.

In his noted publication, Music of Colorado and New Mexico’s Río Grande, in Enduring Legacies: Ethnic Histories and Culture of Colorado, University of Colorado Press, Lorenzo highlights the history of the Casorio and Entriega wedding traditions celebrated throughout the Upper Río Grande Region of Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico of the 1840’s.  He holds a Doctorate in Education and Juris Doctorate Degrees (Ed.D., J.D.) and served as Assistant Dean and Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law.

Currently, he is the Director of the Mariachi Program at Metropolitan State University of Denver, the President of Hilos Culturales, a non-profit organization that preserves, promotes, and presents Hispanic traditions from the 1840’s of Colorado and New Mexico.  He serves as the Director of, Nuestras Raices: Música Mariachi Rocky Ridge Music, Vice Chairman, Tesoro Cultural Center, Director, Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival Workshop & Showcase, Director, Latino Cultural Arts Center Mariachi Program,  Director, Southwest Musicians, and Trustee, Colorado Symphony.

As part-two of Viva Southwest, the Latino Cultural Arts Center and MSU Denver Department of Music present a special evening of Mariachi. The Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival takes place in September and features a sensational lineup that includes a headliner and a special performance by Mariachi Estelares de Colorado, Colorado’s All-State Youth Mariachi Ensemble.

Students grades 9-12 and undergraduate are invited to audition for 2025’s Mariachi Estelares de Colorado for the opportunity to perform at the Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival. Video auditions are being accepted February 3 – March 15, 2025. Selected participants will be announced at the Viva Southwest Mariachi Conference in April.

Note to Mariachi Directors: 

If you would like to recommend a candidate to audition in-person at the conference, please email Dr. Lorenzo A. Trujillo ([email protected]) in advance of the conference to arrange a time for the audition.