Annual FIESTA NAVIDAD Celebrates The Holidays At Segerstrom Center

Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Fiesta Navidad, one of Orange County's most popular and anticipated holiday celebrations, returns to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall on Thursday, December 19 at 8:00 p.m. This joyful family concert features the renowned Grammy Award-winning Mariachi Los Camperos and dance group Chiquina Palafox.

Tickets to Fiesta Navidad start at $29 and are available now online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about groups of 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds its corporate partners including Kia Motors America, Official Automotive Partner and United Airlines, Official Airline.

Mariachi Los Camperos was founded in 1960 by the late mariachi "giant" Natividad "Nati" Cano. A traditionalist and a visionary, Cano played an integral role in the development of mariachi music in North America. He trained and mentored new generations of mariachi musicians, expanded the repertoire and brought mariachi performance out of traditional venues such, as cantinas, and into concert halls. Cano's seminal contribution to mariachi was marked by institutions as diverse as UCLA, where he taught for many years and revitalized the Music of Mexico program, and the Smithsonian Museum. Smithsonian Folkways, the museum's recording label, released a number of albums by Los Camperos, including the Grammy winner, Amor, Dolor y Lágrima, and later Tradición, Arte y Pasión, released in 2015 and nominated for a Grammy in 2016.

In 2015, Jesús "Chuy" Guzmán, succeeded Nati Cano as music director of Los Camperos. Guzmán was, Cano's protégé, and he is widely recognized as an arranger, director, instructor and musician in the genre of Mexican mariachi music. He is a master of numerous traditional mariachi instruments, including trumpet, vihuela, guitarron, guitar and violin. For the past 20 years, Mr. Guzmán has served as head instructor for numerous international mariachi festivals in the United States and Mexico. He has collaborated on orchestration and musical arrangements for the Symphony Orchestra of Jalisco and has recorded as a guest artist with Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan. Guzmán has been a faculty member in the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology since 2000.

Mariachi Los Camperos was one of four mariachi bands that collaborated on Linda Ronstadt's album, Canciones de Mi Padre (Songs of my Father). The group participated in promoting the album, including national television appearances on programs such as The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and the Grammy Awards. Los Camperos also performed on Ronstadt's follow-up album, Mas Canciones (More Songs).

The ensemble has recorded nine albums including: Puro Mariachi (Indigo Records, 1961); North of the Border (RCA/Carino Records, 1965); El Super Mariachi, Los Camperos (Latin International, 1968); Valses de Amor (La Fonda Records, 1973); Canciones de Siempre (PolyGram Latino, 1993); Sounds of Mariachi (Delfin Records, 1996) and Fiesta Navidad (Delfin Records, 1997); Viva el Mariachi (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2003); Llegaron Los Camperos, (Smithsonian Folkways, 2005). Los Camperos shared a 2005 Best Musical Album for Children Grammy for cELLAbration!, A Tribute to Ella Jenkins. In 2006, the album Llegaron Los Camperos was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Mexican/Mexican-American Album. In 2008, the group released their third CD with Smithsonian Folkways, titled Amor, Dolor y Lágrima, that won the 2009 Grammy for Best Regional Mexican Album. The group released its forth CD with Smithsonian Folkways in 2015, Tradición, Arte y Pasión, which was nominated for a 2016 Grammy for Best Regional Mexican Album.

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