Operatic Tenor performs for Students at Wildwood
Operatic Tenor performs for Students at Wildwood
Posted on 11/08/2016

Operatic tenor Jose Iniguez wowed the audience of elementary students on October 28 at Wildwood Park Elementary. Jose gave a presentation and performed several opera pieces for an assembly of students.

Wildwood is an AVID showcase school, and one of the major themes for the school year is to follow your dreams. Jose Iniguez’s message is one of perseverance; to follow your dreams no matter what challenges one may face ahead. 

Jose, an operatic tenor who grew up here in the State of Washington, realized his passion for opera as a young boy growing up in a farming town in eastern Washington with his 11 brothers and sisters. His father was a foreman at an orchard in the town of Mattawa where Jose and his siblings were raised.

“You could always hear singing in the orchard as people worked,” said Jose to a class at Wildwood. “Every morning my father would play his bolero music. He had siblings that were mariachis in Mexico, and he exposed me to bolero, which is an older style of mariachi music, the style without the horn section.”

Jose was featured in a documentary entitled “From the Orchards to the Opera” which describes Jose’s incredible journey from growing up in a single-wide trailer with his 10 other siblings by the Orchards of Mattawa to going on to graduate college with a degree in business and then going on to performing opera in major venues such as the Moore Theater and Benaroya Hall in Seattle.

In the Wildwood classroom, Jose encouraged students to work hard to achieve their dreams and to continue pursuing those dreams even if there are challenges ahead.

Jose Iniguez Operatic Tenor

After Jose offered a positive message of pursuing one’s dreams and working hard he sang several opera pieces for the Wildwood students. Jose’s operatic tenor voice filled the Wildwood gym. Students appeared shocked and in awe by the volume he was able to achieve without using a microphone.

Jose visited several classrooms so that students could ask questions about opera or about him and his journey of pursuing his dreams.

One sixth grade student asked, “What inspired you to go into opera?” to which Jose responded, “I realized that there weren’t very many opera singers like me in classical music, and that was one of the things that really inspired me to pursue opera. I knew that if I could become a professional opera singer it could help other people realize they could achieve their dreams, too”.

The Wildwood students had a unique opportunity to hear classical opera music. They also an uplifting message sure to inspire many for years to come.

Devin Konsmo