Open to the public, Viva la Musica’s annual scholarship auditions take place on August 14 at 4 p.m. in the Auditorium.
Viva annually donates 80,000 pesos in scholarships and educational grants, focusing primarily on supporting talented Mexican music students at university. Music teachers, notified of impending auditions, nominate appropriate candidates aspiring to careers in music, who then apply and audition.
Scholarships are renewable each year without audition, if the student maintains good marks.
Occasionally Viva aids students to attend master classes or to purchase a professional quality musical instrument. It also provides an annual grant to support CREM-Ajijic Music School (Centro Regional de Estudios Musicales).
Viva’s concerts provide an essential part of its funding. Its scholarship students’ impressive success demonstrates the little known – and ironically unsung – value of its work.
“It has been through the generosity of friends and associations like Viva that I have been able to survive,” says tenor Manuel Castillo. “I am thankful for all that I have received – it goes beyond the meaning that money can give. I have been enabled to touch many lives and I hope to be able to continue doing so. My deepest thanks to all those who have the vision of helping people for the love of doing so.”
With a doctorate in vocal performance from the University of Kentucky, Castillo founded the Guadalajara Annual International Opera Workshop. This summer 26 students are putting on two shows of Suor Angelica by Puccini, with an international TV broadcast scheduled for 2015.Pianist Alla Milchtein agrees. “Viva’s support was a great help for my career,” she says. Russian born but raised in Mexico, she has Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in piano performance from the Conservatory of Rotterdam, plus a special studies diploma in piano accompaniment from the Mannes College of Music in New York, where she is now on the faculty. An international performer, she is a piano accompanist for the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Hector Lopez and mezzosoprano Patricia Hernandez both obtained Master’s degrees in voice performance at Houston’s Rice University. Married, they sing in operas, perform private recitals and are members of the Municipal Classical Choir of Guadalajara. Lopez teaches voice at the University Tec de Monterrey in Guadalajara and Patricia gives private lessons.
The list continues, only curtailed through lack of space:
Soprano Dolores Moreno completed her degree in voice at the Superior School of Sacred Music in Guadalajara and performs widely as a soloist and recording artiste.
Cellist Eduardo Garcia teaches at CREM in the afternoons and elsewhere in the mornings. He gives private lessons in cello and guitar and volunteers at the Love in Action shelter. He writes music and is saving up to study composition in America.
Diego Rojas began studying music aged nine at CREM, where he’s now a faculty member. With a Master’s degree in violin performance he’s a member of the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra, the quartet Cuerdas Revueltas and the piano trio Catarsis.
Tenor Luis Rodriquez completed his Master’s in operatic voice performance at the University of Texas. Founder and conductor of the Senior Choir of the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, he performs and conducts extensively.
Violinist Rafael Contreras began his musical education at CREM, then at the Conservatorio Agustin, Guadalajara. He’s now a member of the famous group Mariachi Hermanos Vargas.
Eight Viva scholarship winners are currently attending university: Estafania Aviles (soprano), Francisco Bedoy (tenor), Fernando Franco (piano), Areli Medeles (cello), Dany Medeles (viola), Juan-Pablo Medeles (violin) and Ivan Moreles (piano).
The efforts of Viva’s hard-working group of supporters are as remarkable as they are invaluable. It is self-evident that without its support, many young people would never be able to develop their musical skills and their talents would be lost.
For further information, call Rosemary Keeling on 766-1801.