The Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra broadened its community outreach last weekend, inviting a renowned mariachi band to perform with the local ensemble in a salute to Mexican Independence Day.

At the first of two performances, a Saturday night crowd of Anglos and Latinos were impressed by symphonic treatments of familiar compositions from Spanish-speaking composers; followed by a dazzling collaboration that demonstrated the versatility of mariachi music and its players.

Mariachi Cobre is not your familiar neighborhood musical combo. This 13-member internationally acclaimed ensemble includes seasoned veterans who have been playing together since they were teenagers in Tucson, Ariz., a center for this traditional music and home to the renowned International Mariachi Conference.

Led by brothers Randy and Steve Carrillo, Mariachi Cobre has been a popular group since the late 1960s. Entertaining literally millions of visitors, the ensemble has been the headline performance group at the Mexican Pavilion at Walt Disney World's Epcot Center since it opened in Florida in 1981.

With maestro Asher Raboy and the Napa Valley Symphony Orchestra backing it up, Mariachi Cobre offered a wildly enthusiastic Saturday night audience a program that ranged from a haunting work by beloved Mexican composer Manuel Ponce to traditional ranchera songs from Jalisco.

Trumpets, guitars, violins, and outstanding vocalists teamed up to offer music that was both strong and sensitive. Outstanding mariachi music is marked by the complex rhythms laid down by the guitarrons and strings, the beautiful lines on the violins as well the brassy pronouncements from the trumpets. But first and foremost, it must feature fiery vocals and with Mariachi Cobre it does, offering a group of beautifully harmonized voices.

Mariachi Cobre is an ensemble with the range and power of an opera company plus the detail and transparency of a world-class chamber group. While it plays as a team, it is individual effort from every quarter that makes this group so spectacular. Estaba muy bueno.

New series at Cameo

The new owners St. Helena’s Cameo Cinema have launched a late night series of music and film on Saturdays at the intimate Main Street venue.

At 10:30 each Saturday night, an up-and-coming entertainer and/or band will be on hand to offer a performance lasting between 45 minutes and an hour, followed by the screening of a special film. For the next few weeks, the Cameo is screening  “U2 3D,” a 3-D presentation of U2’s global “Vertigo” tour. Shot at seven different shows, this production employs the greatest number of 3-D cameras ever used for a single project.

Last Saturday night, the series kicked off with a performance by pop/soul singer/songwriter Brandon Rogers.

Accompanying himself on a Yamaha keyboard, Rogers spent close to an hour serenading some two dozen souls with a mix of originals and covers that ranged from Sara Bareilles (“Love Song”) to Stevie Wonder (“Jesus Children of America”). The latter, from an early ’70s recording, “Innervisions,” seemed an odd choice stuck in the middle of a program that focused on such shallow issues as dating, waiting for a call from a former date and coming to terms with the fact that the apple of one’s eye is really a bad apple.

To refresh your memory, Rogers was a finalist on the sixth season of “American Idol.” He reminded his local audience that he was the one who forgot his lyrics. He did offer an explanation — he was in pain from a ruptured disc and wound up having back surgery after Paula, Randy and Simon turned thumbs down. That experience led to a new song, “(This Time I’ll Fix What’s) Broken.”

Rogers has a nice voice and is an affable, chatty guy. Personally, I’m not a fan of his songwriting skills, as his efforts tend to sound repetitive after 20 minutes or so.

However, a powerful, heartfelt rendition of Leon Russell’s mournful “A Song For You” was enough for me to admit that I’d eagerly return to a Brandon Rogers show hoping that a few more covers would be included in the mix. Hope springs eternal.

Musical attractions for the next five Saturdays include:

• Sept. 20 — The Good Listeners, experimental pop/rock from Los Angeles.

• Sept. 27 — The Sorentinos, Santa Rosa rockers just back from a European tour.

• Oct. 4 — Melissa Rapp, alternative pop/rock singer from San Francisco.

• Oct. 11 — Civalias, the project brainchild of 23 year-old Southern California singer/songwriter Adam Stidham, an alternative acoustic sound reminiscent of Coldplay and Radiohead.

• Oct. 18 — Justine Bennett, San Francisco acoustic folk/pop artist celebrating the release of her first recording.

Tickets for Live at the Cameo range from $10 to $20, depending on the artist. For additional information, log onto www.cameocine ma.com.