José Iñiguez is known for a distinct voice and a style that blends opera with mariachi bolero, a combination that has brought him numerous honors.
José Iñiguez is known for a distinct voice and a style that blends opera with mariachi bolero, a combination that has brought him numerous honors and packed concert halls.
For Iñiguez, music also offered acceptance and belonging.
After moving from Mexico, Iñiguez grew up in the small agricultural town of Mattawa in central Washington. He said his early life was shaped by how others viewed him and his family’s work.
“Being brown, being Mexican, we were farm workers. We worked in the orchards,” Iñiguez said. “You were immediately classed as an orchard worker, brown person, and so that as a child is how I had to navigate this world.”
Although his family had little money, they were rooted in community service and surrounded by traditional Mexican music.
Iñiguez said music was a key way people expressed both hardship and affection.
“Music was a central part in how we expressed frustration, but also how we expressed love,” he said.
That love for music, along with a desire to give back, later inspired Iñiguez to help others find their voice. In 2018, he founded Encanto Arts, a nonprofit arts organization that offers summer music classes.
Iñiguez said the program has grown.
“Now we're offering our summer music program, and it's up to 60 students, so it's not just 10 or 20; it's 60 students, and every class is under 10,” he said.
Bryan Orona takes summer music classes through Encanto Arts.
“Just a 15-year-old charismatic guy that lives in West Seattle. Likes to sing and likes to communicate with people,” Orona said.
Orona is also the first-place winner of the Encanto Youth Talent Show. He said the organization has helped shape how he connects with others.
“The most important thing that I think Encanto Arts has given me is to have love for the community,” Orona said.
Iñiguez's ability to inspire the next generation of performers is rooted in years of work that began when he got the idea to perform in junior high after watching musical performances on PBS.
In high school, his tenor voice led him to solo competitions, and he went on to Central Washington University to study music.
After college, Iñiguez entered the corporate world before returning to music. He began producing his own recitals and traveled across Washington state with them.
“I went to all these different communities so that people could try to get to know me and see me in person with just a piano and myself,” he said.
As demand grew, producing and performing became his full-time job. He also established scholarship endowments at four different universities in Washington state located in farm-working communities.
Iñiguez continues to amplify his voice while working to ensure others from similar backgrounds have opportunities to do the same.
