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Salsa, mariachi music to highlight
Latin culture, history
CSULA faculty collective to dazzle with ‘Hot Nights’ on March 17
Calendar listing
What: Cal State L.A. presents “Hot Nights: A Salsa & Mariachi Performance.”
When: Saturday, March 17, 7:30 p.m.
Where: State Playhouse, on the CSULA campus.
Info: Call the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance at CSULA, (323) 343-4110.
Los Angeles, CA -- Weaving together a “beautifully narrative thread” about cultural influences and history of the music, Cal State L.A. presents “Hot Nights: A Salsa & Mariachi Performance” on Saturday, March 17, 7:30 p.m., at the State Playhouse on the CSULA campus.
The picante concert, which is free to the public, is led by award-winning CSULA faculty musical directors Paul De Castro and Cynthia Reifler Flores. The narrative presentation is co-written by CSULA professors Gastón Alzate of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and José Cruz González of the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance.
Paul De Castro is recognized in jazz and salsa music circles as a versatile keyboardist, arranger and composer. Esteemed as both a fine performer and teacher, he has performed and/or recorded with a diverse group of musicians that include Gary Foster, Bobbie Bradford, Charlie Haden, Nick Brignola and Bobby Carcases, in addition to numerous jazz and salsa groups in Austin, TX, and Los Angeles, CA. Since 2006, De Castro has toured Europe and Asia both as a performer and educator. As leader of Orquesta Dengue, De Castro has performed in numerous festivals in Romania and Hungary and taught master classes in Spain, Canada, China, and Taiwan.
Cynthia Reifler Flores has been a professional mariachi and music educator for more than 20 years and has shared venues with the world’s greatest mariachi musicians throughout North America. Flores was an original member of Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, the first all female-show mariachi in the U.S., and served as acting director for almost nine years. She currently performs with Trio Bohemio, an all female mariachi trio.
Gastón Alzate is associate professor of Spanish at CSULA, where he teaches Latin American theater, performance art and literature. In 2011, Alzate was a research fellow of the Verflechtungen von Theater Kulturen (interweaving performance cultures) in Freie Universitat of Berlin. Since 2009, he has been a member of the CSULA Mariachi Aguilas de Oro (Golden Eagles).
José Cruz González, a prolific and acclaimed playwright, will direct the production and is also a member of the CSULA Mariachi Aguilas de Oro. González’s plays have been produced at Denver Theatre Center, Cornerstone Theater, Childsplay, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Orlando Repertory, The University of Texas at Austin, CSU Fresno, and Teatro Humanidad in Texas. He is also a recipient of CSULA’s 2006 Outstanding Professor Award.
Public permit dispenser parking is available at Lot 5 or upper level of Parking Structure C. For campus map and directions, go to /univ/maps/. For more information, call the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance at CSULA, (323) 343-4110.
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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 220,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to the Honors College for high-achieving students. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu