The president of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education has announced that TXST music professor John Lopez will be the 2019 recipient of the William Aguilar Cultural Arts Award. This award “recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to the understanding of the national Latino community and/or culture through the fine, creative, and performing arts.”
John Lopez has been a rising star of Texas State University since first graduating from the University as a music major, to earning his Master of Music degree here in 1992, to teaching part-time, then full-time, advancing to tenured Associate Professor. He founded and coordinated the Latin Music Studies area at Texas State University in 2003.
Starting with the creation of Salsa del Rio in 1995, the area has grown to include such award-winning ensembles as Mariachi Nueva Generacion, Mariachi Lince De Oro, and Orquesta del Rio. Under Lopez’s direction, the Salsa and Mariachi ensembles have gained much recognition throughout the state, as well as nationally and internationally through several performance opportunities. Salsa del Rio has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Brienz Jazz Festival, Carnaval de Nice, Cancun and Mexico City, and at the prestigious Notre Dame Jazz Festival, where they have won several awards.
Mariachi Nueva Generacion has risen to one of the best university Mariachi ensembles in the state of Texas. They compete regularly at the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza held annually in December in San Antonio, TX, where they have won first place eight out of the last eleven years that they have competed. Internationally, Mariachi Nueva Generacion has toured Europe alongside the Texas State University Symphony Orchestra. In 2012, Mariachi Nueva Generacion and Salsa del Rio toured and performed in Chile.
