{"id":213134,"date":"2026-03-20T16:57:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/213134\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T16:57:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T16:57:32","slug":"ut-san-antonio-ensemble-to-back-music-legends-at-tejano-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/213134\/","title":{"rendered":"UT San Antonio ensemble to back music legends at Tejano concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tejano Ensemble class<\/a> at UT-San Antonio<\/a> is a quick study: Register, practice, perform.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Classes began in February. The first concert is April 15 at the Empire Theater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The assignment: Back up seven legendary artists at Sonidos de San Antonio, a celebration of Tejano and Conjunto music to benefit student scholarships at UT-San Antonio.<\/p>\n

The performers are Tejano icons Shelly Lares<\/a>, Little Joe<\/a>, Ruben Ramos<\/a>, Santiago Jimenez, Jr.<\/a>, Ram Herrera <\/a>, Patsy Torres<\/a> and Sunny Sauceda<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe artists are not bringing their bands,\u201d said Shelly Lares, ensemble co-director and UT-San Antonio Artist in Residence. \u201cThe ensemble is backing up all these artists. And let me tell you: They\u2019re great musicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sonido Tejano, the UT-San Antonio ensemble, is composed of 14 students: three saxophonists, three keyboard players, two trumpeters, two percussionists, one drummer, one trombonist, one bass player and one who plays accordion, bajo sexto and guitar.<\/p>\n

\u201cFour of them sing,\u201d Lares said.<\/p>\n

Mariachi Los Paisanos<\/a>, another UT-San Antonio ensemble, will open the two-hour concert, which begins at 7 p.m. Tickets<\/a> are $50 for general admission and $100 for VIP Meet and Greet. Proceeds support the inaugural scholarship for Sonido Tejano.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Presented by UT San Antonio, Shellshock Records 3 and JMT Studios, the concert features artists who have shaped the sound of South Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sauceda, a Grammy-winning accordionist, is excited to return to his home, where he began performing at age 5 for $5 a night. At 18, he performed with Eddie G and Grupo Vida on the Tejano circuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At Harlandale High School, he was pulled out of a welding class and told that the Queen of Tejano, Selena Quintanilla-Perez, had been slain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a devastating moment in Tejano music,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sauceda met Lares in 1996 at a show in Corpus Christi. The accordionist in Lares\u2019 band asked to borrow Sauceda\u2019s instrument. A friendship formed. In 2002, Lares performed at Sauceda\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a deep history with Shelly,\u201d Sauceda said. \u201cShe was a mentor to me when I was a young artist and started in Tejano. I love her dearly and I\u2019m so proud of what she\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be exciting to be performing with peers who are Tejano legends. And it\u2019s exciting to see we have collegiate representation in San Antonio. I\u2019m happy to support UTSA and Shelly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lares works with Sonido Tejano every Monday night, from 5:30 until 8 p.m. She teaches the instrumentation and stylistics of the genre.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as I learned we could have the class, I thought we\u2019ll have to throw a concert and showcase these students,\u201d Lares said. \u201cWe want to show what we are doing at UT-San Antonio. If this had been at a university when I was growing up, I would have enrolled in a heartbeat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tejano Ensemble class at UT-San Antonio is a quick study: Register, practice, perform.\u00a0 Classes began in February.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[83423,83424,83425,83426,82,84,83,25896,9135,83427,83428,83429,92,3028,3438],"class_list":["post-213134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-little-joe","tag-patsy-torres","tag-ram-herrera","tag-ruben-ramos","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-santiago-jimenez-jr","tag-selena-quintanilla","tag-shelly-lares","tag-sonidos-de-san-antonio","tag-sunny-sauceda","tag-top-story","tag-typedaily","tag-ut-san-antonio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}