Join a special pop-up performance of this award-winning youth Mariachi group from Texas’s Roma High School, presented in collaboration with UMS.

For 25 years, San Antonio has played host to the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza, the largest, longest-running and most competitive mariachi group competition in the world. Mariachi Nuevo Santander has placed at the top of the high school division throughout the competition’s history and has been named “grand champions” of the entire Extravaganza seven times, selected directly by members of the world’s preeminent Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, which performs a UMS concert at Hill Auditorium on Friday, February 14.

Mariachi Nuevo Santander has appeared on national television and performed throughout the U.S., from Washington, DC to Ashland, OR. The group appeared on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” Season 12, recorded in Pasadena, California and at the Universal Studios in Los Angeles.

Mariachi Nuevo Santander will release its third album in March, following Corazón Orgullo y Tradición in 2018 and Heart, Pride & Passion in 2014. The new album, titled Sangre Mariachera, features 11 tracks, including the group’s award-winning performance from December’s Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza in San Antonio. The album features traditional mariachi rhythms and songs with original arrangements by the group’s director, Eloy Garza. Garza’s background as a mariachi musician with Mariachi Nuevo Santander and Mariachi Sol de Mexico has served as the foundation for the group’s success.

This performance is free and open to the public. No tickets required.