About

Orquesta Guadalupana Baja California is a youth orchestra based in the marginalized community of Villa Del Campo, Tijuana, Mexico. Founded in 2018 by Music Director Ronald Wakefield, OFS, the orchestra focuses on performing for the marginalized such as in orphanages, nursing homes, and at bedside of people who are passing away in California hospice care facilities. Members of the orchestra teach music lessons in an orphanage and to religious sisters in a convent. They have performed in cathedrals in Los Angeles, Mexico City and Cuernavaca and in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. In 2025 Orquesta Guadalupana made their debut in the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2023 the Los Angeles City Council proclaimed Orquesta Guadalupana a “Beacon of hope, for their compassionate and culturally enriching efforts to build bridges between Mexico and the United States.” Fourteen members of Orquesta Guadalupana are preparing to represent Mexico in Paris and Lourdes, France, in 2027.

Orquesta Guadalupana is a string orchestra only. Woodwinds, brass and percussion are not taught. Audition requests are not accepted as there is a system in place for new members that includes Roman Catholic religious formation along with private lessons from the advanced musicians. A dedicated effort is made to provide educational scholarships for the members.