For those who want to keep the holiday spirit flowing into the new year, Opera Cultura of San José has just the thing:  Cantar de los Reyes — songs of the Three Kings — on Jan. 4, 2026 at the San José Woman’s Club.

The fiesta features acclaimed baritone Omar Alejandro Rodriguez in an afternoon of traditional holiday and mariachi music, traditional treats like rosca de reyes (sweet King’s bread) and a singalong.

Dia de Los Reyes, Three Kings Day, is the Christian holy day of Epiphany, commemorating the visit of the three kings — sometimes called the Wise Men or Magi — who brought gifts to the baby Jesus. It’s celebrated on Jan. 6, the 12th Day of Christmas. In Mexico, as in many other parts of the world and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Epiphany celebrations rival, and sometimes surpass, those of Christmas with gift-giving, pageants and parties.

This is the third year Opera Cultura has presented Cantar de los Reyes, and the event has become a San José tradition. The first show had only 50 in the audience, but since then, audiences have reached 200, according to Opera Cultura Founder and Director Hector Armienta. 

“We have folks from all kinds of communities coming to town now for the show,” he said. “We see children, we see older people, people of all ages. It’s a holiday singalong that includes beautiful mariachi music. It’s an opportunity to immerse yourself in a special holiday that is part of the Mexican culture.”

Cantar de los Reyes was started by Opera Cultura’s former executive director Sandra Bengochea, a noted singer and opera director who currently teaches full-time at San José State.

“It was her idea,” said Armienta. “Years ago, we had a holiday show. We stopped doing it, but we talked about doing something that was related to the holidays. So she suggested this.”

January’s show will be the second time Cantar de los Reyes takes place at the San José Woman’s Club’s historic 1929 California Mission Revival home. The venue is perfect for this show, said Armienta. “It’s a really beautiful, welcoming venue. It is perfect for an intimate performance.”

Opera Rooted in the Latino Community

Opera Cultura is dedicated to reflecting Latino and Hispanic cultural experience through opera and music theater.  Armienta founded the company in 2008 to create opera that reflects the Bay Area’s large and diverse Latino community.

“I was looking for an artistic home,” said Armienta, “and decided on San José. That’s where I started Opera Cultura, and it has been a place for me to develop my work. Also, it’s an opportunity to expand what opera means in the Hispanic community, to redefine it, to make it resonate more with the stories and the culture in San Jose.”

Opera Cultura’s next show is Chicanisima by Carla Lucero, on June 27, 2026. Chicanisima tells the story of Bay Area political and human rights activist Olga Talamante.

“The reason to tell this story is that it’s about the individual strength and the power that we all have to create change,” explained Armienta.  “Olga Talamante persevered against great odds,” including imprisonment in Argentina during the 1970s ‘Dirty War.’ “She persevered. She showed that true power lies within each of us.”

Armienta is well-known as an opera composer. His opera Zorro was performed this year by Opera San José and is currently in production with Arizona Opera and Pacific Opera Projects.

His operas and music-theater works explore Mexican and Mexican-American cultural experiences. His compositions fuse traditional Western classical forms with Latin American influences like mariachi, corridos (colonial period), and musica Azteca (pre-Columbian period).

Cantar de los Reyes is on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026 at 2 p.m. at the San José Woman’s Club, 75 S. 11th Street, San José. General admission tickets are $5 — $20 and children under 10 are free. Buy online at www.operacultura.org/event-details/cantar-con-los-reyes. A limited number of reduced-price tickets are available for low-income seniors and families. Email h.armienta@operacultura.org.

Cantar de los Reyes is sponsored in part by the San José Woman’s Club and the city of San Jose’s Office of Cultural Affairs.

Carolyn Schuk can be reached at carolyn@santaclaraweekly.com.