John A. Lopez is an Associate Professor of Music at Texas State University-San Marcos and serves as the Coordinator of Multicultural Music. Starting with the creation of Salsa del Rio in 1995, the multicultural area has grown to include Mariachi Nueva Generacion, Orquesta del Rio (Salsa Band II), and the newly formed, (Youth) Mariachi Infantil. The total number of students involved in these programs has grown to over 100. He also provides yearly salsa and mariachi opportunities for middle and high school students through the week long multicultural music summer camp held at Texas State
University. As a performer, Mr. Lopez is very active in the Salsa Music community playing Latin Percussion with some of the best groups in the Central Texas area. Some of the bands he has played with include La Predilecta, Naningo, Tony Guerrero, Orquesta Tradicion, El Tumbao, Mochate, and Son Playado. He also serves as Music Director for The Mambo Kings of San Antonio. Under his 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 internationally at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, Brienz Jazz Festival, Carnaval de Nice, Cancun and Mexico City, Mexico. Nationally, they have performed at the prestigious Notre Dame Jazz Festival where they have won several awards. Mariachi Nueva Generacion has quickly risen as one of the best university Mariachi ensembles in the state of Texas. Mariachi Nueva Generacion competes regularly at the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza held annually in December in San Antonio, TX, where they have won first place several times. Internationally, Mariachi Nueva Generacion has toured Europe along side the Texas State University Symphony Orchestra. For more information on the multicultural ensembles, please visit www.txstate.edu/musica.
While only in its third year of existence, Salsa del Rio has grown to be one of the most entertaining and in-demand campus ensembles. The group has traveled to France to perform in the Carnival de Nice in 1996 and to Switzerland to perform in the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1997. The group recently completed a performance tour in Huatulco, Mexico, in the spring of 1998. One of the group's recordings was chosen for a 1996 Down Beat Music Award for best sound recording.
Besides actively teaching music he has performed with both the Austin and Mid-Texas Symphony Orchestras, and numerous jazz, salsa, and Latin jazz groups in the San Antonio and Austin Areas.