Celebración Latina

In four short years, CSN’s Mariachi Plata has earned a place as the finest Collegiate Mariachi in the United States. Mariachi Plata is comprised of students from CSN’s mariachi courses, part of its fine arts music curriculum. Founding Directors Fernando and Lupe Gonzalez have led this group of 17 highly accomplished student musicians to the very top of the mariachi world, winning the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza Competition for the last two years in a row. This competition, held in San Antonio, Texas is widely acknowledged as the national championship of collegiate mariachi. CSN’s “Plata” is the first band from outside of Texas to win this prestigious title in the 28-year history of the competition.

This year, under the direction of nationally renowned Mariachi vocalist and guitarrón artist Perry Chacón, Jr., Mariachi Plata continues to be one of the points of pride of the College of Southern Nevada. They are an outstanding example of how we, at CSN, continue to empower our students and communities to achieve, succeed and prosper.

Pauline ‘Ofa Tamale, mezzo-soprano, is a native Pacific Islander from the Kingdom of Tonga in the heart of the South Pacific. She was praised by the Schmopera for “sung stirringly” in her first opera and Florida debut in the role of Mrs. Patrick De Rocher in the opera Dead Man Walking by Jake Heggie. Currently in her third year of studies for her Doctoral of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance studies at the University of Nevada Las Vegas under the direction of Dr. Alfonse Anderson. Before moving to Southern Nevada, she completed her Masters of Music in Vocal Performance at California State University Northridge and Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance at California State University Long Beach from the voice studio of Shigemi Matsumoto. She has won several competitions including NATS Las Vegas Chapter 2021 among many in the South Bay area in Los Angeles. She appeared on stage at the Nevada premiere of the Letters to Lily by Emily Clemens with the Opera Las Vegas on September 30th –October 2nd, 2022 seasons. She has performed the role of Zita from Gianni Schicchi, and La Zia Principessa from Suor Angelica by Giacomo Puccini, as well as L’Opinion Publique from Jacques Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers with the California State University Northridge OperaProgram.

She has performed and won the title "Choir of the World" competition with the Bob Cole Chamber Choir at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales, 2016, and has performed at the St. Paul Cathedral in London, St. Mary the Virgin at the Oxford University in England. Her training also led her to perform with the El Camino Chorale in Carnegie Hall in 2013 with the work of Faure Requiem. She also performed as an Alto soloist for Messiah in the Los Angeles area. During her 2019 summer program in Graz, Austria, she was hired as the alto soloist for the Missa Purification by Fux at the Münzgrabenkirche in Austria and performed with the orchestra at the Schloßbergbühne Kasematten, Austria. She also worked and sang for a new opera read with the LA Opera for Placido Domingo in their 2020-21 season opera.

A graduate of San Francisco’s prestigious Adler Fellow Opera Program, American tenor Daniel Montenegro is recognized for his flexible and distinctive voice and a varied repertoire of bel canto, verismo, and contemporary roles.

In 2015, Daniel made his Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and San Diego Opera debuts as Luis (a role he created) in El Pasado Nuca se Termina. Recent seasons include Giovanni (La Hija de Rappaccini) with Gotham Opera and his European opera debut at the Théâtre du Châtelet as Mario in Daniel Catán’s Il Postino along side Plácido Domingo, as well as a number of significant role and company debuts including Roderigo (Otello) with San Francisco Opera under Nicola Luisotti, Alfredo (La Traviata) with New Orleans Opera and Minnesota Opera, Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore) with Washington National Opera, Pang (Turandot) at the Hollywood Bowl conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, Pong (Turandot) with San Francisco Opera and Dallas Opera, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette with Tulsa Opera and the Castleton Festival, and most recently, Mario in Il Postino with Opera Saratoga, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Arizona Opera, and Rafael in Cruzar la Cara de la Luna in his debut with Fort Worth Opera. The 2017-2018 season included a concert of excerpts from La bohème with the Quad City Symphony, Rafael in Cruzar la Cara de la Luna in his debut with both New York City Opera and Houston Grand Opera, and his San Diego opera debut as Arcadio in Florencia en el Amazonas. The 2018-2019 season and beyond sees him as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Opera Columbus, Alfredo in La Traviata with Arizona Opera, Luis in El Pasado Nuca se Termina with Fort Worth Opera, and making a return to San Francisco Opera.

Daniel features on ‘Great Voices Sing John Denver’ alongside Plácido Domingo and many other key operatic names; produced by legendary arranger and music producer Milt Okun, the disc was released on the MRI Associated label in June 2013.

Upcoming: Viva Zarzuela! (Palm Springs Opera), Ana Maria in Zorro (Opera Santa Barbara). Recent credits: Celebracion Latina (Opera Las Vegas), Soprano Soloist in Carmina Burana (Santa Monica College Symphony), Canto en Resistencia (Los Angeles Philharmonic), Flor y Canto solo recital (Oracle Piano Society), Adina in L’elisir d’amore (Pacific Opera Project, Opera in the Heights) Mimi in La Bohѐme (Pacific Opera Project), Mrs. Anderssen in A Little Night Music (Pasadena Playhouse) Violetta in La Traviata (New Rochelle Opera), and The Infanta in Der Zwerg (Numi Opera). Colombian - American soprano, Oriana Falla, attended UCLA. As a recording artist, Oriana sang for the soundtrack of Disney’s Encanto. Oriana is a member of AEA and currently studies with Joyce El-Khoury.

Pianist/coach Manuel Arellano is in his second year of the Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist program at LA Opera. After completing a master’s degree in collaborative piano with Martin Katz, he freelanced for a year in Berlin. In 2022, he concluded a doctorate in opera coaching with Tamara Sanikidze at the University of Texas.

Manuel has worked on Carolina Performing Arts’ production of Omar and at the Butler Opera International Festival, and has accompanied renowned soprano, Julia Migenes, in concert, as well as Stevie Wonder. He was also a fellow at Music Academy of the West and multiple years at Aspen Opera Theater.

The Opera Las Vegas Youth Chorus was founded in 2017 in collaboration with Thurman White Academy under the direction of Athena Mertes, and made their first appearances in the touring fairy tale opera, John Davies' Pinocchio.

In the fall of that year, they were the animals on the ark in Benjamin Britten's Noah's Flood, with full orchestra.  Since then, more fairy tale opera tours ensued to entertain young families with opera-inspired stories like Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, and The Bremen Town Musicians. The group twice participated in Humperdinck's classic, Hansel and Gretel, and were on stage with Metropolitan Opera stars in 2022 Main Stage production of Puccini's Tosca.

In this Twenty-fifth Anniversary Season, the 32-voice Youth Chorus' busy schedule will include the World Premiere of Behold the Man, Voices Raised for Vets, Holiday on Broadway, Celebración Latina, The Billy Goats Gruff, and Puccini's La bohème.

Perry Chacón Jr. is a doctoral candidate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas under the tutelage of Dr. Alfonse Anderson. He holds a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Opera and Music Theatre performance from Arizona State University, where he studied with renowned operatic baritone Gordon Hawkins. Chacón began his musical studies as a guitarrón player and lead vocalist with the high school ensemble Mariachi Chula Vista in California. With Mariachi Chula Vista, he performed at the Tucson International Mariachi conference, Albuquerque Espectacular, the Encuéntro Nacional del Mariachi y la Charreria in Guadalajara, and the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in Washington D.C. Chacón continued his musical studies with Mariachi educator and composer Dr. Jeff Nevin and is currently a guitarist and lead vocalist for Mariachi Champaña Nevin. As part of this ensemble, Chacón has performed with the San Diego Symphony, Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, Idaho Falls Symphony Orchestra, Yakima Symphony ,York Symphony Orchestra, and Santa Rosa Symphony among others. Chacon is currently one of the directors at one of the nation’s top Middle School Mariachi programs, Mariachi Los Gavilanes de Monaco Middle School and the director three-time college national champion Mariachi Plata from the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas.