Staccato, choir of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is comprised of university students. It boasts a wide and varied repertoire, focused mainly on a capella choral music of the 20th and 21st centuries. The choir is constantly seeking out newly written and avant-garde music, in keeping with the University's spirit of innovation.
Within Mexico, the ensemble maintains an active presence in the cultural life of the University, while also performing in diverse venues and in cultural festivals throughout the country. Staccato has performed in international festivals in Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. It has also won awards, such as the Gold Diploma in the "Folklore" category of the “Tonen2000 Festival”, celebrated in Naaldwiyk (Holland), First Place in the "Mixed Chorus" category of the 2013 “Johannes Brahms International Choral Competition”, held in Wernigerode (Germany), and the "Gran Prix" in the "Musical Impressions Festival” in Bydgoszcz (Poland), also in 2013. In 2016, Staccato went on a concert tour to several cities in Germany, in the context of the “Mexico-Germany Dual Year”. During that tour, the choir also gave concerts in France and Spain.Marco Antonio Ugalde, Founder and Director
Marco Antonio Ugalde, founder and director of Staccato, was born in Mexico City. He studied at the National School of Music, at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), specializing in Choir Conducting. He has founded and directed, among others, the children's choir of the German School in Mexico City, the "Ars Cantata" Vocal Ensemble, and Staccato, the National University's resident student choral ensemble. Ugalde has been a professor in a project designed to train new choral directors throughout Mexico, and has acted as director of several of the centers devoted to this project in several cities across Mexico. In the year 2000, he was invited to conduct Mexican music at the World Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany. In 2003, he acted as guest conductor of the "Centennial Choir" for a concert presented by Luciano Pavarotti in Mexico. In 2007, he offered a conference and directed a workshop devoted to Mexican music within the context of the 6th International Festival “America Cantat ”, held in Brazil. In 2009, he participated in an international Master Class for Choral Conductors which took place in the Marktoberdorf (Germany) Academy of Music. He has attended conventions, symposia, and festivals in Germany, Denmark, France, South Korea, Croatia, Latvia, Spain, Canada, the U.S., and Cuba. With Staccato, he has done four international tours, as well as having won important distinctions and awards in several international competitions. In 2016 he gave a lecture on Mexican music at the Ars Choralis Festival in Zagreb, Croatia. In 2017 he was invited as a member of the jury and to conduct a workshop on Mexican music at the Musical Impressions Festival in Bydgoszcz, Poland. From 2016 to 2018, he will be the recipient of a grant from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts (fonca) which will enable him to carry out a project of research and promotion of the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, especially Mexican music. The project will also allow him to give workshops and conferences on Mexican and Latin American music and to give concerts with Staccato within Mexico and abroad.