Valeria Osuna Yrizar de Luna has an unconventional and disparate mix of talents. She’s an accomplished, classically trained violist, and a passionate practitioner of Afro-Cuban and Latin dance music; an enthusiastic networker and event organizer who gave birth to two boys while getting her master’s in Live Entertainment Management (LEM) at the Frost School of Music.
It all came together to bring Osuna to Yandel Sinfonico, where she was the viola section leader of an orchestra backing one of reggaeton’s biggest stars in a sold-out Las Vegas concert just before the Latin GRAMMYS in November.
Osuna credits Frost School associate professor Gary Alan Wood, who leads the LEM program, with giving her the support she needed to find her way.
“I was not a traditional student,” Osuna, 33, said from her home in Dallas, telling her story while also caring for her sons, Samuel, 4, and Isaac, 2. “But Gary never told me ‘you can’t’ or ‘you shouldn’t.’” He was the wind beneath my wings, pushing me and promoting me and talking about me in a way I didn’t even talk about myself. He gave me so much confidence.”
From a Mexican-American family, Osuna, whose father plays saxophone and grandmother plays piano and sings, began playing viola in 5th grade in her Dallas public school. She continued her viola studies at the University of North Texas College of Music, but grew frustrated with classical music, and began studying ethnomusicology, focusing on Indian and Afro-Cuban music. She fell in love with singing and playing percussion in Latin music, which led her to meet her husband, percussionist Javier Luna.
“My love for music came back to me,” Osuna said. “I basically left classical music and started this whole other path.” She and Luna visited Miami multiple times between 2018 and 2019, drawn by the Cuban musicians here and Luna’s admiration for Dafnis Prieto, the acclaimed Cuban-American drummer and leader of the Frost Latin Jazz Orchestra—which would lead Luna to get a master’s in jazz pedagogy at the Frost School. Osuna, meanwhile, began an extended email conversation with Wood.
“I didn’t want another music degree,” she said. “I was looking for another angle.”
She took a surprising route to finally come to the Frost School. A longtime yoga teacher, she was living on a Sikh ashram in New Mexico in 2019 when she was invited to perform at a Florida solstice festival that December. She packed her drums into her small car and called Wood as she drove across the country. In the spring of 2020, Osuna began studying at Frost Online, later joining the LEM program with a generous scholarship and becoming Wood’s teaching assistant.
“Instead of finding reasons why I wasn’t qualified, Gary saw my unique skill set as a strength, and he had the patience to mentor me,” Osuna said.
Instead, Wood saw ample reasons to help Osuna reach her potential. “Valeria is an artist and administrator and leader beyond her years,” he said. “She has creative energy combined with a get-it-done attitude that is unique and infectious. She sets a great example and as a T.A., she had the ability to bring people together to accomplish great things. Her vision for making events successful is a powerful force. The program was blessed to have her on the team and support her ongoing career pursuits.”
Life was a whirlwind. She and Luna had their two sons while getting their degrees. Osuna played with the Frost Symphony Orchestra and sang in the couple’s Latin jazz orchestra. She worked in marketing for the Sanctuary of the Arts and the International Hispanic Theater Festival. She is proudest of producing and directing the Bliss Festival, presenting Frost School jazz, Latin jazz, and singer-songwriter artists (including the debut of celebrated recent alumna Kate Kortum’s female jazz vocal group Sunhouse Seekers) at The Doral Yard in Miami in the spring of 2023.
That December, she graduated, carrying six-week-old Isaac. “I walked the stage with my little Hurricane,” she said.
She said she and Luna could not have done it without the support of multiple Frost School faculty, praising professors Rey Sanchez, Guillermo Page, Charles Bergeron, John Daversa, Prieto, and Wood above all. “He supported me when I was pregnant, worked with me, gave me grace so I could complete what I started,” she said.
Her Frost School connections continued to open doors. Last January, Osuna’s friend and fellow Frost School alumna Melanie Ferrabone connected her with organizers of Panama’s Festival Internacional de Música Académica Alfredo De Saint Malo, a major music festival. Osuna became a coordinator for the summer event, working with international guests. One of them was Javier Mendoza, the director of orchestral studies at Florida International University, who was impressed by Osuna’s work. That led to her becoming viola section leader for Yandel Sinfonico, which Mendoza conducts.
Osuna said the concert was an exhilarating experience that called on her classical training as well as her Latin music skills and industry knowledge. She networked and assisted Mendoza. She made sure that the violists’ bowing and interpretation precisely matched each other, and that they had the right style for Latin music.
“There’s a swing, a feeling you can’t fake,” said Osuna. “I had to make sure the rhythm was not just accurate but had sazón. You’re playing, but also dancing. You can’t just stand up there and be stiff.”
She said the experience was exhilarating. “The concert was packed—people were screaming with joy,” she said. “I was treated with a lot of respect.”
“Coming from classical music gave me the foundation to be versatile. If I hadn’t had that, I wouldn’t have gotten that gig. It opened a door to represent my culture with dignity.”
A devout Christian, Osuna currently plays viola with the Dallas branch of Millennial Choirs and Orchestras, a classical and Christian music group; and with the Music Ministry Conservatory, a similar group where she is also fundraising coordinator. She continues to work in marketing. And she dreams of being a conductor, adding yet another skill to her palette of talents.
“I would like to show that mothers and women can also be leaders,” she said. “We all have something unique to contribute. I want to explore it all.”
