Too much Latino talent to fit, Gallo competition moves to bigger theater

After a sell-out inaugural show, Talento Vivo en el Valle is coming back even bigger to celebrate the region’s Latino talent.

This year close to 30 acts are vying for prizes and to be entered automatically in The Valley Talent Project later this year. The show Saturday at the Gallo Center for the Arts will feature adult and youth ballet folklórico groups and male and female Spanish-language mariachi/ranchera singers from across the area. The competition also moves from the 444-seat Foster Family Theater, where it sold out well in advance last year, to the 1,250-seat Mary Stuart Rogers Theater.

Gallo Center Community Engagement Manager Raul Garcia, who is coordinating the event, said the show’s success last year wasn’t necessarily a surprise. It has grown from a feeder show for the popular Valley Talent Project to a hit in its own right.

“I wasn’t surprised because I knew there was a need for something like this. When I brought the idea to the table I knew there was a need,” Garcia said. “So once we got people together, the level of excitement was so great. It really showcases the talent here.”

This year 28 groups and performers will take part, up from 24 last year. Garcia said he received more entries than he could accept. The show will follow the same format, but he expects the performances to reflect a wider range of styles and highlight different regional music. More than half of the participants will be new and performers are coming from Modesto, Turlock, Stockton, Riverbank, Los Banos and beyond.

Some of last year’s competitors have gone on to national exposure. Liliana Hernandez, a 2014 Johansen High graduate who competed last year, has since appeared on two Univision reality singing shows — “Va Por Ti” last summer and “La Reina de la Canción” this spring.

As with the first year, the contest is bringing in an experienced panel of judges with expertise in the various disciplines.

Garcia said he doesn’t envy the judges’ jobs this year.

“The talent has gone up. We have a lot of very talented people here. I know the judges are going to have a really tough time,” he said. “I know these (performers) have been rehearsing for a long, long time for this. Some of them even started a few weeks after last year’s show ended. They take it really seriously.”

This story was originally published June 21, 2017 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Too much Latino talent to fit, Gallo competition moves to bigger theater."