Some festivals have government budgets. Some have corporate sponsors. And some have something no budget can buy: a community that sustains them because they genuinely believe in what they do.
The Festival de Música de Cámara de la Mixteca (FEMUSCAM) reaches its VII edition in 2026 with concerts in Santa María del Tule, the Zócalo of Oaxaca City, and Santa María Tlahuitoltepec — high-profile special guests and eight years of history that deserve to be told.
What Is FEMUSCAM and Where Does It Come From?
Since 2018, FEMUSCAM has been an academic, cultural, and interdisciplinary encounter space based in Oaxaca's Mixteca region. It was born from a clear idea: to give string instrument students — of all levels and ages — a space where they could share and learn alongside musicians from Mexico's most important professional orchestras.
The first edition was in Huajuapan de León. Just strings and piano. An intimate format. But the community's response was strong enough that subsequent editions grew in both venues and disciplines.
Today, FEMUSCAM is far more than a strings festival.
From Strings and Piano to a Complete Cultural Ecosystem
In its first edition, the festival focused on string and piano ensembles. The idea was simple but powerful: bring regional musicians together with teachers from orchestras like the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa, OFUNAM, the IPN Symphony Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Aguascalientes — to work on chamber repertoire with both rigor and human warmth.
But when a community responds, projects grow. Edition by edition, FEMUSCAM expanded its activities into a full interdisciplinary ecosystem that now includes:
- ▸Theater — with Metamorfosis teatro
- ▸Dance — with Cielo Mixteco danza
- ▸Choir — with Coro Canto de Lluvia
- ▸Instrument repair and maintenance — a workshop with direct practical impact in communities where finding a luthier is nearly impossible
- ▸Wind instrument ensembles
- ▸Full orchestra ensemble
The people served say it all: the festival has worked with students aged 7 to 72, from communities including Huajuapan de León, Santo Domingo Tonalá, Santa María Camotlán, Tezoatlán de Segura y Luna, Acatlán de Osorio, Zimatlán de Álvarez, Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, San Agustín Etla, Oaxaca City, Mexico City, Toluca, and Tehuacán, Puebla.
A Festival That Moves: The History of Venues
One of FEMUSCAM's defining features is that it doesn't stay in one place. Since its first edition in Huajuapan de León, it has brought music to communities rarely seen on conventional cultural circuits:
FEMUSCAM Online: When the Pandemic Couldn't Stop the Music
In 2021, with the world still paralyzed by COVID-19, many festivals simply canceled. FEMUSCAM made a different choice.
The III edition took place entirely online, in coordination with the United Children's Music Project (UCMP) of New Jersey, USA — connecting musicians and students from the Mixteca with their counterparts in the northeastern United States. Classes, rehearsals, exchanges: all via digital platforms.
That edition proved something that wasn't obvious before the pandemic: FEMUSCAM's community has no geographic borders.
The Woman Behind the Festival: Mtra. Ana Alicia Martínez Rivera
FEMUSCAM doesn't spring from an institution or a government program. It springs from one person with a clear vision and the determination to make it real. Mtra. Ana Alicia Martínez Rivera is originally from Veracruz. She began her musical training at the CECAM (Centro de Capacitación y Desarrollo Musical Mixe), where she learned transverse flute. At 7 years old she started her career as a violinist at the "Vida y movimiento" Ollin Yoliztli music school.
Her training took her through the Centro de Iniciación Musical de Oaxaca, the Escuela Municipal de Bellas Artes de Veracruz, and the INBA in Querétaro. In 2001 she enrolled in the Violin Licenciatura at the Faculty of Music of the Universidad Veracruzana. In 2010 she completed a second degree in Viola at the Instituto Superior de Música del Estado de Veracruz, graduating with Honorable Mention.
She was a member for seven years of the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil del Estado de Veracruz and a founding member of ORFIX Xalapa. Since 2015 she has been a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Oaxaca.
She has taught violin and viola at the Casa de la Cultura de Huajuapan de León, the Casa de la Cultura de Villa de Etla, the "Orquestando La Mixteca" project in Tezoatlán, the Instituto Maurice Ravel in Oaxaca, and the Faculty of Fine Arts at UABJO.
In 2018 she founded FEMUSCAM. And she hasn't stopped since.
Qué Onda Oaxaca's Take
We cover culture from the inside — not as spectators, but as part of the same community that makes and sustains the projects we write about.
And when we look at FEMUSCAM's trajectory — eight years built without stable government funding, without institutional certainty, kept alive by collective will, volunteers, local sponsors, and a network of musicians and communities who believe in the project — our position can't be neutral: This kind of project deserves every bit of community support.
Not as charity. As an act of recognition toward what generates real impact: 7-year-olds discovering the violin, 70-year-olds learning to play in an ensemble for the first time, communities in the Mixteca spending a week up close with chamber music alongside some of Mexico's finest musicians.
VII FEMUSCAM 2026: Dates, Concerts, and Special Guests
The festival opens Monday, July 20 and closes Sunday, July 26, 2026. The three closing concerts are free and open to the public:
The concerts feature special guests: Sandy Xaam, Josué Sánchez, Jta Fatee, and Carlos CGH.
The full week (July 20–23) includes workshops, master classes, and musical exchanges with the festival's collaborating orchestras and projects.
How to Support FEMUSCAM
FEMUSCAM is an independent, nonprofit project. Its survival depends directly on community support. There are several ways to contribute:
- ▸Attend the concerts — free admission. Your presence matters.
- ▸Share this article and the festival's official content on your social media — visibility is real support.
- ▸Contact them directly to explore donation or sponsorship opportunities.
- ▸Instagram: @femuscam
- ▸Facebook: Festival de Música de Cámara de la Mixteca
- ▸Email: festivalmusicadecamaramixteca@gmail.com
- ▸Phone: +52 228 171 3732 / +52 951 636 6535
Coming Soon on Qué Onda Oaxaca: Exclusive Interviews with VII FEMUSCAM Artists
We're preparing a couple of exclusive interviews with some of the talented musicians who will participate in this edition. We'll talk about repertoire, what it means to play in the Mixteca, how chamber music dialogues with the musical traditions of Oaxacan communities — and what it feels like to bet, year after year, on a project like this one.
The interviews will be available on our YouTube channel — follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you don't miss the announcement.
Photographs: courtesy of FEMUSCAM. Group photo: Enrique Morales.
Thank you to all the sponsors and allies who make VII FEMUSCAM possible: Convite Mezcal Premium, Dicandí Mezcal Artesanal, Tierra del Sol, Catedral de Oaxaca, Wombat Café, Academia Selah, ATTI Solutions, Domingos de Concierto, and Restaurante Reynita.
