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Choral Ensembles at UTEP provide opportunities for all students on campus to participate in outstanding vocal organizations.  Interested singers can choose from non-auditioned and auditioned choirs, each providing numerous performance experiences on- and off-campus throughout the academic year.

Made up of almost 200 young musicians between the ages of 7 and 21, The Esperanza Choir and its sister Orchestra have been delighting audiences around the border and beyond since 2010. Born with the purpose of bringing children from the most vulnerable areas of Juarez into a safer environment, this ensemble has become a true ambassador of the city's commitment to its youth and its improvement through the arts. Often touring around Mexico and The United States, the Esperanza Choir have offered successful concerts in Mexico city, Puebla, Acapulco, Chihuahua, Torreon, New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Cruces, Tucson, Houston and of course El Paso. The Esperanza Choir gained world-wide recognition while singing for Pope Francis during his visit to Ciudad Juarez in 2016. Often featured in international news such as NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, the Choir received reporter Andrea Mitchell's visit in Ciudad Juarez in 2023 after their well-received performance at the Mexican Embassy in Washington DC., earlier that year. Joshua Bell, Yoyo-Ma, Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Frederica von Stade, Alondra de la Parra, Paquito D’ Rivera, Carlos Prieto, Valery Gergiev, and the Mariinsky Orchestra are some of the international figures and organizations woth whom Esperanza Choir has been privileged enough to collaborate.

  Jorge Parodi is the Artistic Director of the Savannah VOICE Festival; the General and Artistic Director of Opera Hispánica; Music Director of Gulfshore Opera; and of Opera in Williamsburg (VA). He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Tokyo International Vocal Arts Academy Summer Workshop, and he is faculty at The Juilliard School. He was the Music Director of the Senior Opera Theater at the Manhattan School of Music for over a decade. He was featured in an interview for Opera News.

He conducted productions at The Atlanta Opera, New York City Opera, Merola Opera Program, New Orleans Opera, Savannah OPERA, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Orlando, Opera Tampa, Gulfshore Opera, Amarillo Opera, El Paso Opera, Buenos Aires Lírica (Argentina), Castleton Festival, The Banff Centre (Canada) and The Juilliard School. 23.24 debuts: Knoxville Opera, Opera San Jose.

World Premières: John Musto’s Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt (On Site Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric’s Unlimited and Pittsburgh Opera); and Anton Coppola’s Lady Swanwhite (Opera Tampa); and Michael Ching’s The Birthday Clown (Savannah OPERA).

Other conducting credits: Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Castleton Festival Orchestra, Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Zipoli for the American Baroque, Juilliard Pre College Orchestra, Volgograd Opera (Russia), Ensamble XXI, Orquesta del Conservatorio Nacional (Argentina).

He has collaborated with such artists as Isabel Leonard, Eglise Gutiérrez, Verónica Villarroel, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Tito Capobianco, Sherrill Milnes, Aprile Millo and Rufus Wainwright and has assisted conductors Lorin Maazel and Julius Rudel, among others.

Elisa Fraser Wilson is Associate Professor of Choral Music and Voice at UTEP. Her duties include coordinating the Ensembles and Conducting Area, directing the university choirs, and teaching choral conducting. Dr. Wilson holds degrees in music education and performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Wichita State University (KS) and a doctoral degree in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Prior to moving to El Paso in 1998, Dr. Wilson taught choral music at Champaign Central High School in Champaign IL. She has worked with young people in music since 1986, directing summer musical theater programs and community youth choirs and providing individual voice instruction. Former employers include the Decatur, Illinois Recreation Department, Millikin University (IL), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Wilson is the former director of the El Paso Children’s Choir at UTEP, which she conducted from 1999 to 2004, and she appears regularly as a clinician and adjudicator for El Paso area solo/ensemble and choral festivals, and nationally for World Strides/Heritage Festivals, Inc., as a choral and vocal jazz adjudicator.

Dr. Wilson's directing, coaching, and production credits for high school and collegiate organizations include: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Crazy For You; The Wiz; Fosse - an original revue; Libretto y Canto – an evening of original, bilingual opera and musical theatre scenes; A Little Night Music; Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill; Once On This Island; Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica; Songs for a New World; Gallantry; The Telephone; Man of La Mancha; Romeo and Bernadette; Susannah; Into the Woods, and various opera and musical theatre scenes presentations.

Mr. Flores is a proud graduate of the Master of Music program at University of Texas at El Paso.Earlier in his career he sang with Opera companies such as: Fort Worth Opera, Dallas Opera and Living Opera of Dallas, San Diego Opera, Bhutan Opera, Donna Anna Opera and El Paso Opera. Also served as an associate director for El Paso and Princeton Opera.Now mainly a choir and orchestra conductor, Mr. Flores has been at the front of the Coro Esperanza of Ciudad Juarez since 2016.Under his leadership the Esperanza choir has collaborated with artists such as Placido Domingo and Frederica von Stade, won the 2018 OSEA national choir competition, and has reached recognition as one of the most accomplished youth choirs in the region.

Karmina Guzman is a soprano born in Ciudad Juárez, México. She has a bachelor’s degree in music from the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez, where she studied under the guidance of M. A. Alonso Fierro Olea.

Throughout her musical journey, Karmina has been part of the Esperanza Azteca Orchestra, as a choir member; the El Paso Opera, in productions such as Tosca, How Green Was My Valley, and Carmen; the vocal ensembles Anaíma and Flor de Lis; the Gilbert and Sullivan Company of El Paso, as Mabel in the production of The Pirates of Penzance; she has sung as the soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah, and recently sung a co-directed in an Opera Gala with the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez; she participated as a leading soprano with the Ballet Company of El Paso on its 2023 Nutcracker Season; and currently she is working with the opera company Fidelio in Ciudad Juárez.

She has participated in different music festivals such as La Via Dei concerti in Italy, Tlaxcala Canta in México, CorHabana in La Habana, Cuba, and the Hawaii International Music Festival in 2023. She has been guided in master classes and workshops by artists such as Lauren Flannigan, Jacqueline Quirk, Ricardo Rivera Ladys Sotomayor, Digna Guerra, Dr. Manuel Castillo, Ubail Zamora, Carlos Conde, Dolores Martínez, Cyndia Sieden and Maya Sypert among others.

Presently, Karmina is a voice professor at the Musical Production Program and the Music program of the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez; and she is a student of the renowned operatic soprano Amy Shoremount-Obra.

Odalis Aguirre, soprano, born in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua is leaving her mark in El Paso, Texas as an emerging artist in operatic and concert work. Odalis is a Resident Artist with El Paso Opera. Odalis was given the opportunity to perform for world renowned Mezzo-Soprano Federica Von Stade in a masterclass in January 2020. She has also been an award winner 3 years in a row at the regional NATS competition. Odalis was a top-place winner when she competed in UTEP’s Spanish Language Vocal competition in the Fall of 2019. She has traveled to Leeds, England with the Chamber Singers where she performed in a quartet for Mozart’s Requiem at the annual event, Light Night. Odalis performed the role of Mimi (La Bohème) and Dolcina (Suor Angelica) at Opera UTEP in the Spring of 2019. In April 2020 she virtually performed at Opera UTEP’s “What is Opera” part 2 as Antonelli in the Zarzuela, El Duo de la Africana. In 2021 she was part of El Paso Opera's Curbside Opera as a Junior Artist. In September 2021, she performed in the 2nd Annual Giving Voice concert featuring Cecilia Duarte. Odalis was the name character, at Opera UTEP’s Zarzuela, Luisa Fernanda this April 2022. Odalis is involved with her community. Every year she participates in the Christmas event The Living Christmas Tree, where she often performs solos in various genres, is part of ensembles and sings in the choir. Odalis aspires to be a traveling opera singer and spread her love and respect for music.

Vinny Juárez, born and raised in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, has had a deep passion for music from a very young age. His journey began in school assemblies, talent shows and his high school’s musical theater productions. Vinny pursued this passion at The University of Texas at El Paso, where he recently graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Music Education. At UTEP, he performed with different ensembles like the Concert Chorale and Chamber Singers, gaining the opportunity of collaborating with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and performing at notable venues like the Plaza Theater Performing Arts Center. Vinny also showcased his talent in Opera UTEP’s Spring 2022 production of “Luisa Fernanda” as El Saboyano and was part of the Chorus in El Paso Opera’s 2023 production of Verdi’s “La Traviata”.

Mezzo-soprano Isabella Ramirez is a senior at The University of Texas at El Paso and is pursuing a bachelor's in music education. As a part of Opera UTEP, she played the principal role of Mariana in the full-scale production of Luisa Fernanda, and The Goat in a children's opera titled The Fox and the Cookie. In a recent Opera Showcase titled Femme Fatales, she played Cinderella in the final scene from Rossini’s La cenerentola. In past Opera Showcases, she played the Third Lady in a scene from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Cherubino in a scene from Le nozze di Figaro, and Paloma in a scene from El barberillo de Lavapiés. As a member of the UTEP Concert Chorale, she has performed with them several times in concert with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and the Roswell Symphony Orchestra. With the Gilbert and Sullivan Company of El Paso, she played the title character in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, and played Kate in The Pirates of Penzance. Last summer she received a scholarship to join the studio artist program at Opera in the Ozarks, where she played the role Cinderella in an adaptation of Rossini’s La cenerentola, for children. At Opera in the Ozarks, she was a chorus member in The Tender Land by Aaron Copland, The Elixir of Love by Donizetti, and Orpheus in the Underworld by Offenbach, and performed in the annual Broadway Cabaret. She also volunteers in the choir at Hillcrest Baptist Church, where she serves the Lord with her talent. 

El Paso native pianist Flor de la Garza performed her first full recital at the age of seven. At age nine, she played as a soloist with the El Paso Youth Symphony. She has also played with the Las Cruces Symphony, and with the Autonomous University of Chihuahua Orchestra.  

De la Garza holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Texas at El Paso, and a Master's Degree also in Piano Performance with an emphasis in Collaborative Piano from the New Mexico State University.  

De la Garza’s past credits include assistant music director and pianist for UTEP Opera and for the Doña Ana Lyric Opera in collaboration with NMSU. She has also produced and directed the music of her own company’s staged works that have included Zarzuelas, Pastorelas, as well as varied themed recitals. 

De la Garza currently serves as an independent collaborative pianist for a variety of educational and cultural events including degree recitals at the undergraduate and graduate level for both vocalists and instrumentalists and El Paso Opera community outreach. She is also music director at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and adjunct faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso Music Department.