Crystal Hernández used the word often reflecting on what it meant to lead a local, family-run mariachi program through its 15th year.
The Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute, an educational program dedicated to preserving mariachi and in partnership with the Anaheim Elementary School District, celebrated that anniversary this week.
José Hernández, Crystal Hernández’s father and a Grammy-nominated mariachi icon, founded the organization in 1991. He’s also pivotal to the summer institute program’s success, teaching this year alongside his 26-year-old daughter.
“I grew up watching my dad teach these workshops and classes, and just also passing down this culture and music and this tradition to the next generation,” Crystal Hernández said.
“And that’s exactly what we’re doing here.”
More than 175 mariachi musicians of all ages from around the United States gathered at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim this week to learn how to play instruments and sing.
Master class trumpet player, Pedro Fregoso, center, plays a few notes during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Master Musician José Hernández, left, plays a vihuela for his one-year-old grandchild Nico Altavilla as he holds on to his grandmother, Teresa Hernández, during the musical interpretation class at the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Instructor Adrián Vaca, top left, leads a master class during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students Ayden Tapia, 19, left, and Kaelyn Valencia, 20, right, react as Master Musician José Hernández demonstrates to Tapia how to put emotion into his voice when singing about love to a woman during the vocal interpretation class at the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Master Musician José Hernández, left, helps Heidi Velasco, 16, of Las Vegas, improve her singing during the musical interpretation class at the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Music instructor Crystal Hernández, daughter of Master Musician José Hernández, leads the advanced violin class by modeling during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students in the intermediate violin class practice during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Music instructor Carlos Toledo leads his intermediate trumpet class during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Students in the advanced guitarrón class practice during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Master Musician José Hernández, at the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Master Musician José Hernández shows his one-year-old grandchild, Nico Altavilla, a trumpet during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Harp instructor Guillermo Acuña, bottom, works with his students during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Master class trumpet player, Pedro Fregoso, center, plays a few notes during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Master Musician José Hernández, right, reacts when Heidi Velasco, 16, of Las Vegas, sings during the musical interpretation class at the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Master class trumpet player, Pedro Fregoso, center, plays a few notes during the 15th Annual Mariachi Nationals & Summer Institute at Benito Juarez Elementary School in Anaheim on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The summer camp culminates in the annual Mariachi Nationals where vocalists and ensembles compete for the opportunity to perform at the OC Fair on Sunday, Aug. 2, alongside Mariachi Sol de México, a group that’s nabbed several Grammy nominations.
For 10 years now, Pedro Fregroso, 17, of Westminster, has attended the mariachi summer institute.
“I remember my first memory on the first day. We got to see all the instructors with their instruments standing on the stage. And then they played the songs that we were going to learn at the camp,” the incoming high school senior said.
“It was just a crazy feeling because they’re all top-tier professional musicians that have been at this their whole life. And then to hear José Hernández for the first time, play the trumpet,” he said. “I was completely shocked.”
That memory stuck — and the admiration only grew — as Fregroso resolved to learn the trumpet and to sing as his appreciation for mariachi music became more serious.
“It’s really connected me to my community, the Hispanic community,” Fregroso said, adding that singing in Spanish has helped his grasp of the language and “got me closer to my grandparents since they’re from Mexico and they only speak Spanish.”
“Mariachi is like part of my life now, I think,” he said. “I’ve made it important to keep this part of my culture alive.”
