09/18/2026
We are excited to welcome several guest artists to our ¡Celebración! - 6th Annual Hispanic Heritage Concert! These three ladies are amazing music professors and performers. Mark your calendar for Thursday, Sept 24 at 7:30!
Lauren Barchi, DMA, is a lyric soprano, voice teacher, and music director from New York who recently joined the faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance. On the opera stage, Dr. Barchi has performed a diverse range of roles, including Mimì (La bohème), Contessa (Le nozze di Figaro), Blanche (Dialogues des Carmélites), Lady Billows (Albert Herring), Monica (The Medium), First Lady (The Magic Flute), and Lyra (Alice Tierney). An active concert soloist, her highlights include appearances with the Ridgewood Concert Band, the Anna Maria Choir (Handel’s Messiah), the NYU Choir, and performing as part of a vocal quartet in Courtney Bryan’s Yet Unheard with Helix! Before relocating to El Paso, Dr. Barchi performed with Long Island Opera Nights and served on the faculties of New York University and Long Island University. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from Rutgers University. Her doctoral research focused on the musical and cultural significance of mental health representation in contemporary opera and musical theatre. Dr. Barchi’s ongoing scholarship continues to explore how performance can challenge stigma and foster social understanding.
Soprano Diana L. Esparza joined the music faculty at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2016, where she teaches Applied Voice and Lyric Diction in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and German. She is frequently invited to present lyric diction workshops nationally and internationally.
Prior to UTEP, Ms. Esparza spent seven years on the voice faculty at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (UACJ), México, teaching Applied Voice, Opera Workshop, and Choir. There she prepared choruses for numerous productions with the Orquesta Sinfónica de la UACJ, including Madama Butterfly, La traviata, and L'elisir d'amore, as well as choral masterworks such as Borodin's Polovtsian Dances and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. She also collaborated in Opera Gala concerts featuring distinguished guest artists from the Mexican opera scene, and led the background vocal ensemble for Sarah Brightman's concert in Ciudad Juárez as part of the Festival Internacional Chihuahua. Ms. Esparza holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance, both from UTEP.
Pianist Dena Kay Jones has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and internationally in Spain, Italy, France, Mexico, and Canada. Her appearances include Chicago’s Myra Hess Concert Series, the Festival Internacional de Música de Tecla Española in Spain, and the Orfeo Music Festival in Alto Adige, Italy, where she is a returning faculty member, soloist, and chamber musician.
Dr. Jones has devoted much of her performance and scholarly work to Spanish piano music, particularly the life and works of Joaquín Rodrigo. Her recordings include Luces y Sombras: Piano Works by Joaquín Rodrigo (Centaur Records), The Haunted American Suite, and Sultry and Eccentric (Summit Records).
Her recent research project, “Vision Through Sounds,” explores music, accessibility, communication, and technology and has been presented in Madrid, Vancouver, and Athens. For more than two decades, Dr. Jones has served on the music faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she is Professor of Piano and maintains an active career as a solo and collaborative pianist.
www.denakayjones.com
