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Music Man by Jennifer Vasquez
I
n this sleepy community Harlingen teaching piano and voice to high school
students. Spots in his voice studio are coveted, as
whose bread and butter his reputation for cultivating exceptional singers has
revolves around the medi- drawn respect from fellow teachers and parents in
cal business and agriculture the community. Handsome, worldly, and driven,
comes a visionary with revolu- Jaramillo itched to bring the joy of the arts of cos-
mopolitan cities to South Texas.
tionary aspirations. Provacouture (sounds like “provocateur”) Pro-
A typically conservative town, Harlingen is home ductions was founded in Dallas in 2005 with the
to li le enthusiasm for the performing arts, save for purpose of giving young artists a voice and avenue
the annual Christmas concert and occasional play. to share their gi s. For his rst production, he com-
But, a new production company’s been born, and its posed a rock semi-opera and integrated an avant
trailblazing god of voice intends to wake up Harlin- garde fashion show highlighting local designers. It
gen and the RGV with a delightful roar. was a creative success and introduced innovative
Xavier Jaramillo is a classically trained tenor who storytelling of music and fashion. Since then, Jara-
has been singing professionally for more than een millo has been living in the Rio Grande Valley on
years. Born and reared in Harlingen, he’s taken his and o for the last ve years and observed that there
gi of voice to sing here and abroad. He’s properly is a serious lack of exquisite live theater performanc-
pedigreed with a Masters of Music in Vocal Perfor- es. “I have been a performing artist, professionally,
mance from the University of Texas at San Antonio. with the South Texas Lyric Opera company out of
A er a brief stint arranging a dance album in Spain, McAllen. ey bring a wonderful service to the
Jaramillo opened a small studio at his home in RGV, but they are only one company and many