Davis encouraged González to apply for a scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles, to complete his undergraduate degree, where he majored in classical guitar performance and composition for motion picture.
After finishing his education at UCLA, González toured with the New Christy Minstrels, and then became music director for Luis Valdez' El Teatro Campesino.
La Pastorela was initially a production of El Teatro Campesino, a Christmas pageant set in a Tex-Mex milieu, featuring Linda Ronstadt, Lupe Ontiveros, Paul Rodriguez and Cheech Marin.
In 1997, as part of the Meet the Composer program, González was commissioned to write his Misa Azteca, which debuted on Dec. 4, 1997, at the Tijuana Cultural Center (Centro Cultural de Tijuana) performed by the Orquesta de Baja California, the Southwestern College Choir of Chula Vista, California, and Tribu, a four-piece pre-Columbian percussion ensemble from Mexico City.
González was influenced by Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor, and in the manner of Stravinsky and Orff sought to create a "similar [blend] of old and new," giving the piece "a neo-Baroque flavor.