Luis “Tito” Talamantes holds a bachelor of professional
studies in interdisciplinary music studies from Berklee College
of Music and has been a Mariachi educator for Stockton Unified
School District for over six years. His ensembles have been
invited to the White House (2016), performed at the Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts (2018), and have placed in many
national competitions.
Scott Linford is a music scholar,
filmmaker, and musician who has conducted research in West
Africa, Central America, and the United States. His primary
research interests include participation and musical experience,
identity and belonging, agriculture and the environment, musical
repatriation, and colonial and post-colonial politics. Raised in
the San Francisco Bay Area, he holds a master of arts degree
and Ph.D.
Brian Rice is a highly acclaimed performer, educator, and
recording artist and one of the most versatile percussionists in
the Bay Area. Though best known as a specialist in Brazilian and
Cuban music, he can be heard playing a multitude of styles,
and his percussion playing graces over sixty recordings.
