August 18, 2013

By Jeff Gebeau Record-Journal correspondent

WALLINGFORD — When the New Haven Symphony invited the Mariachi Academy of Connecticut, a Spanish Community of Wallingford youth band that performs traditional Mexican music, to provide entry music in the rotunda of the Shubert Theater before its March concert, Academy Director Evangeline Mendoza Bourgeois considered it the pinnacle of honors.

“For us, that was the ultimate experience,” she said.

Mendoza Bourgeois, who is also the music director at SCOW, a community group that serves Wallingford’s Latino population, said she had no inkling that three months later the Academy, which is composed of her “best students” from ages 7 to 17, would have the opportunity to grace the same storied stage the orchestra played, not to mention legends like Louis Armstrong, Marlon Brando and Julie Andrews.

So well received was the Academy’s rotunda performance that the symphony asked if the Mariachi group would join them again, this time as the formal opening act for the symphony’s July 20 concert on the New Haven Green.

A stormy forecast moved the performance to an indoor venue, which was originally scheduled to be Yale University’s Woolsey Hall, but a last-minute change prompted a second relocation of the concert to the Shubert, Mendoza Bourgeois explained last week.

Suddenly her students, who were exhilarated just to play the anteroom, were front and center on the main stage.

And how did the plucky, young ensemble respond to the momentous occasion?

“They brought the house down,” said New Haven Symphony Executive Director Elaine Carroll.

Carroll said the Academy performed for approximately 30 minutes, and symphony members uniformly complimented the young players on their “professionalism and authenticity.”

Spanish Communnity of Wallingford Executive Director Maria F. Harlow said the organization was “thrilled” that the Academy was asked to play the Shubert.

“It was an incredible opportunity for the Mariachi Academy and SCOW to be embraced by such well-established organizations,” as the New Haven Symphony and the Shubert Theater, she said.

Harlow said the audience response was a source of tremendous pride for Academy members and their families.

“The reception we got from the public was very encouraging,” she said. “It was beautiful.”

“We’re proud to be partnering with them,” Carroll said of the New Haven Symphony’s burgeoning relationship with the Academy. And the partnership continues beyond the Academy’s Shubert performance. The symphony has invited the group to accompany them yet again, this time to Woolsey Hall in the penultimate performance of the orchestra’s season on May 15.

The Academy will not be idle in the meantime. The band is hard at work preparing for its next big gig, a show at the Riverfront Latin World Rhythms Festival at the Hartford Riverfront Plaza on Sept. 7. The show will entail a full slate of concerts from Latin music artists.

Mendoza Bourgeois said the opportunity to play the Latin music festival is “very exciting,” because a Mexican band has never been featured at the annual event.

The group will warm up for the appearance by playing at the Holy Trinity Church’s mass on Sept 1. All of the Academy’s members attend Holy Trinity, according to Mendoza Bourgeois.

They also will follow up their riverfront festival debut with a performance at the church’s mass on Sept. 8, she said.

Later in the month, the band will play at the official fall campaign kickoff for U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3rd District, Mendoza Bourgeois said. The Academy also played at her inaugural campaign event for the 2010 election season.

The exposure from the group’s high-profile appearances helps SCOW build on one of its central missions, Harlow said. “We want to share our culture with the wider community.”