Los Fresnos News

The Alex Meixner Band to Collaborate and Perform with Conjunto Halcón

Los Fresnos HS Varsity Conjunto Halcon. Courtesy photo

Special to Los Fresnos News

Grammy Nominated Musician, Producer and Educator Alex Meixner is bringing his band to Los Fresnos, Texas for a special collaboration with the Los Fresnos HS Varsity Conjunto Halcón on Wednesday, March 6, 2019.

Meixner and his band will be conducting a master class with the students during the school day and then performing in concert with the Conjunto Halcón at Los Fresnos United 9th and 10th campus located at 33790 Farm Road 803 Los Fresnos, TX 78566. Showtime is 7:00 pm. Free admission for all ages.

Meixner first met Juan Longoria, instructor and ensemble director with the students at 2018’s Texas Folklife Accordion competition “The Big Squeeze” in Austin, TX. “I was immediately impressed with the professional level of musicianship of the students, only to be topped by meeting the students and Mr. Longoria and enjoying their hard work ethic and desire to develop their musicality”, said Alex recently.

At the after-concert clinic, Meixner and Longoria first discussed the possibility of a collaboration between the Conjunto students and Meixner’s band that performs a mix of traditional and contemporary polka music, which all share the same folk roots. The desire is to bridge the gaps of cultural difference and to encourage future work in the region with musical groups that can provide new experiences for the students of Los Fresnos High School.

Meixner has conducted musical clinics and masterclasses for all ages from Pre-K through College and senior citizens at schools and universities throughout the USA. His experience as a performing accordionist, jazz and classical trumpeter has included recording the recent soundtrack to the Netflix film “The Polka King” with Jack Black; performing with Brazilian songwriter/ singer Franco Sattamini, Metal/ Jazz guitarist Alex Skolnick and Texas conjunto masters- Los Texmaniacs in addition to his Grammy-nominated recording “Polka FreakOut” with Bubba Hernandez.

Los Fresnos High School’s Conjunto Halcón was founded by Juan Longoria, Jr. and former LFHS Principal Ronnie Rodriguez in 2012 at Los Fresnos High School in Los Fresnos, Texas. In the years since, Conjunto Halcón has grown to become one of the largest and most acclaimed Conjunto programs in the state of Texas. Under Mr. Longoria’s direction, Conjunto Halcón has performed at various showcase events throughout Texas and has been recognized by various organizations including Texas Folklife, the South Texas Conjunto Association, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center and the Narciso Martinez Conjunto Festival for its success.