The musical talent of Oaxaca, Mexico, will come to UC Riverside on November 1-2. 

At least 30 music directors, composers, educators, and students from California, New York, North Carolina, and Texas, will gather to form a philharmonic orchestra and perform on campus at the UCR Arts Building courtyard. The two-day conference includes panel discussions, music workshops and recording, bilingual college information sessions for parents, and a grand performance and dance at the conclusion of day two. The event, “Encuentro de Música Oaxaqueña en UCR: Raíces y Ramas” (Oaxacan Music Encounter at UCR: Roots and Branches) is free and open to the public.

Organized by Xóchitl C. Chávez, associate professor of music at UCR, the event is part of the annual UCR Encuentros series, which has been showcasing Latin American musical heritage since 2005. Nov. 1 will feature academic presentations and conclude with a master class led by composer Rubén Luengas Pérez. Musicians from the Inland Empire and afar are encouraged to participate in this master class and bring their own instruments to join the performance the following day. People wishing to participate must request music sheets 10 days before the performance by emailing xochitl.chavez@ucr.edu. Participation is free, but registration is required by Oct. 18.  

The Nov. 2 musical performance will showcase funeral marches arranged by Jorge Martínez Jiménez and conducted by Leslie García Parada, 17, the first female director of the youth philharmonic band Descendencia Oaxaqueña in Greensboro, North Carolina. This music has special significance since Nov. 2 is Day of the Dead, a cultural tradition practiced in Latin America that honors the deceased with music, food, and celebration. Participants will be part of an innovative community-oriented recording session for Oaxacan composers with support of UCR’s Experimental Acoustics Research Studio, or EARS.

“My dream has always been to create a pipeline of Oaxaqueños and other ethnic groups to feel welcome at UCR and welcomed to join our Department of Music,” Chávez said. In 2018 Chávez convened the inaugural Oaxacan Philharmonic Bands Audition, which was made up of four orchestras with more than 140 multigenerational musicians.

Participants in this event represent various Indigenous Oaxacan communities including Mixtec, Zapotec, and Mixe/ Ayüük. Another of Chávez’s goals through the conference is to see and understand the intergenerational aspects of women musicians, migration, and new compositions; the event features female composers and directors. 

As a cultural anthropologist and applied ethnomusicologist, Chávez’s research has focused on transnational migration of Indigenous Mexicans, specifically looking at the music and cultural migration of Oaxacans into the United States. During the summer of 2023, Chávez spent several weeks interviewing Indigenous female musicians in Oaxaca and Mexico City. 

For Chávez, the importance of connecting Mexican Indigenous musicians to UCR is a way of reminding the community that UCR is a Hispanic Serving Institution with programming for the public.

For parents attending the college information sessions, Chicano Student Programs will facilitate conversations in Spanish and English. 

“This symposium is a unique opportunity to witness the breadth and depth of Oaxacan musical traditions as they’ve developed across diverse geographical contexts,” Chávez said. “By bringing together presenters from Oaxaca, North Carolina, New York, and various parts of California, we’re showcasing how Oaxacan music-making practices have been preserved, adapted, and reimagined within different diasporic communities.”

If you go

Date: Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2

Cost: Free; registration for workshops is required: boomingbandas.com

Parking: Free. Register for your free parking permit:

• Nov. 1 in Lot 26 Gold
• Nov. 2 in Lot 1 Blue

Location: On the UCR campus, 900 University Ave. in Riverside. Look for the Arts Building courtyard

Full event details

Friday, Nov. 1 

Academic Presentations

Location: INST 1128 CHASS

8:15 – 9 a.m.: Check-in / Registro de entrada 

9 – 9:20 a.m.: Welcome / Bienvenida

9:30 – 10:45 a.m.      

Session 1 

Language Revitalization, Wellness, and Memory / Revitalización del lenguaje, bienestar y memoria

10:45 – 11 a.m.: Break / Descanso      

11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Session 2

Identidades, novedades y aprendizaje 

12:30 – 1:30 p.m.: Lunch for panelists / Comida para los ponentes 

1:30 – 2:45 p.m.     

Session 3 

Roundtable: Florecimiento of Women’s participation and transborder contributions in Oaxacan Bandas 

2:45 – 2:55 p.m.: Break / Pequeño descanso                 

3 – 4:15 p.m.

Session 4

Raíces y Ramas en la música Oaxaqueña

4:30 – 6:30 p.m.: Master class: Maestro Rubén Luengas Ki yaa, Pueblo Encantado

Location: ARTS 157 Rehearsal room 

6:30 – 7:30 p.m.: Dinner for panelists / Cena para los panelistas

Saturday, Nov. 2

Applied Music Making & Recording 

Location: ARTS 157 Rehearsal room

7:15 – 8 a.m.: Check in / Registro de entrada 

8 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.: Welcome / Bienvenida    

8:15 – 10 a.m.: Music Recording Session 1 “Ki yaa, Pueblo encantado,” Rubén Luengas Pérez 

9 a.m. – Noon: Bilingual workshop for Parents 

Location: INTS 1113  

10:15 – 11:45 a.m.: Music Recording Session 2  “Hongo Dao”, Yamili Conde

Noon – 1 p.m.: Lunch for conference participants /Almuerzo para los participantes       

1:15 – 2:45 p.m.: Music Recording Session 3  “Dulce Ilusión,” Nancy Allende (Oaxaca) — conducted by Ernesto Cruz

2:45 – 3 p.m.: Break / Pequeño descanso       

3:15 – 4:45 p.m.: Music Recording Session 4 — Marchas fúnebres - Leslie García Parada

5:15 – 7 p.m.: Musical performance and dance (Baile Serrano)  

Location: UCR Performing Arts courtyard 

Online schedule: events.ucr.edu

Master class: People wishing to participate in the free master class must bring their own instrument and must register by Oct. 18. Request music sheets by emailing xochitl.chavez@ucr.edu.

Presenter bios: “Encuentro de Música Oaxaqueña en UCR: Raíces y Ramas