If music is the soul of culture, what better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, than with a hearty beverage and a VIP-seat to the finest Latin music around? Yavapai College Performing Arts proudly closes its fan-favorite Cabaret series with Sofrito & the Blues, Friday night, May 5, at 7 p.m., onstage at the Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center in Prescott.

Led by Latin Grammy-winning musicians César Orozco (keyboards); Juancho Herrera (guitar); and Jainardo Batista (percussion and vocals), Sofrito & the Blues first performed onstage at New York City’s Diaspora Festival. Together, they built a repertoire of fresh and invigorating takes on traditional Latin, Jazz and Blues classics. And the quartet is anchored by the “crystalline timbre” of an internationally renowned vocalist that Northern Arizona has come to love.

Carmen Elisa Cancél has used her singular talent and classical training to captivate audiences in a variety of genres including Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and Latin music. Best known to Prescott audiences as a guest soloist in YC Performing Arts’ bi-annual production of Handel’s Messiah, Carmen’s extraordinary voice has taken her throughout the U.S. and to Italy, Bulgaria, Belgium, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, as well as her native Puerto Rico.

Yavapai College Performing Arts will use Sofrito & the Blues’s evocative soundscape as the captivating finale to the 2022-23 season of its Cabaret Series; a program designed by YC Performing Arts Director of Programming & Development Dr. Craig Ralston to break down the barriers between artist and audience.

“I began the Cabaret Series seven years ago and it has been my most favorite concert experience on our stage.” Dr. Ralston said. While some performers raise the roof, others are best appreciated from a distance akin to a private concert or an intimate club. By closing the Jim & Linda Lee auditorium’s 1,100 seats and inviting audiences up to a 120-seat onstage arena, the Cabaret offers a relaxing atmosphere of stage-side tables with coffee, drinks or hors d’oeuvres – and the chance to catch every chord and nuance its truly remarkable performers.

Tickets for Sofrito & the Blues are $55 general admission, which includes your seat onstage, appetizers, desserts, coffee or tea and a cash bar. The Jim & Linda Lee Performing Arts Center is located on Yavapai College’s Prescott Campus, 1100 E. Sheldon Street. The Ticket Office is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.; and Thursdays and Fridays, from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. For reservations or more information, please call: (928) 776.2000 or visit us online at: www.ycpac.com.