Mexico-born Juan Pablo Contreras is a graduate of the University of Southern California, the Manhattan School of the Arts and the California Institute of the Arts. He is currently teaching orchestration and music theory at the USC Thornton School of Music. His music combines Mexican folk music with Western classical traditions.

MeChicano was co-commissioned by the Fresno Philharmonic and five other orchestras under the aegis of New Music USA's Amplifying Voices program, kick-started by the Sphinx organization. Contreras writes:

"MeChicano is a 12-minute work that celebrates Mexican-American communities. It is a very personal work, since it is the first piece that I compose as a Mexican-American composer (the title...combining Mexican and Chicano) – finally becoming an American citizen after living in the U.S. for the past 15 years.

"The...work is a celebration of Mexican American communities that have flourished in the U.S., particularly honoring those in Las Vegas, Fresno, Tucson, Louisiana, Richmond, and Walnut Creek, cities whose orchestras co-commissioned MeChicano. 

"In the 1980s, when Mexican Americans became prominent in the U.S., music was one of the artforms that allowed these communities to forge an identity and find a sense of pride and belonging. Mexican American orquestas (a dance-band that synthesized Mexican and American styles) were formed and frequently played live on Saturday Night Dances for their communities. By doing so, they developed a new musical sound that blended traditional Mexican music with American genres such as rock and roll, jazz, and R&B.

MeChicano tells this story and re-imagines this music in my orchestral sound world. Think Selena meets Ritchie Valens meets Los Tigres del Norte meets Contreras."