Three South Texas, award-winning, Mariachi vocal winners will travel to Ashland, Oregon July 30 through August 5 to perform at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Green Show. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival Green Show is a performance held prior to theatrical plays that are part of the prestigious Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

The students represent the best of mariachi vocalists in the U.S. as winners of the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza vocal competition. The competition is held each year in San Antonio as part of the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza and is the largest and most competitive mariachi vocal competition in the nation.

Students traveling to Oregon include 18-year-old Paola Alanis and 16-year-old Clyde Guerra from Roma and 15-year-old Nizhoni Begay from San Antonio. The three students were selected by members of the world’s preeminent Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán as winners during Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza Vocal Competition. Paola Alanis (first photo) won first place in the college/university category in 2012. She is a strong vocalist who

studies at the University of Texas Pan Am in Edinburg. Clyde Guerra (left photo) won first place in the high school category in  2011 and was recently named Champion during Jose Hernandez’ Mariachi Nationals held in Orange County, California. He is a junior at Roma High School in Roma, Texas. Fifteen year old Nizhoni Begay (photo above) is a student at Incarnate Word High School in San Antonio. She tied for first place during the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza Vocal Competition in 2012. Congratulations to each of these students. They will perform on Wed., July 31, Fri., August 2 and Sun., August 4th at 6:45 p.m. The vocalists will be accompanied by Edwin Origel Mendez of Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlan.

For more information on the Oregon Shakespeare Festival log on to osfashland.org. For  more information on the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza log on to mariachimusic.com