It's not unusual for the Columbia Pro Cantare to find itself singing in different languages, but its upcoming concert of Latin American music involves songs in Spanish, Portuguese and an indian language known as Quechan.

If you'd like to hear voices raised in Quechan, the concert is this Saturday, May 3 at 8 p.m. at The Jim Rouse Theatre at Wilde Lake.

"This is pushing the envelope," acknowledges Columbia Pro Cantare music director Frances Motyca Dawson about the evening of mostly short pieces. "We're absorbing the style of each country, but it is particularly hard to switch from one country to the next."

While describing this ambitious program, Dawson laughs and asks: "What was I thinking?"

Actually, she might have been thinking that a Latin American program makes perfect sense considering the group's well-known international reach. Dawson's own Czech heritage has been the subject of many Columbia Pro Cantare concerts, and other nations, ranging from Norway to Ireland, have likewise received their vocal due here.

Dawson knew that Latin America was overdue for thematic exploration. Although some of the numbers planned will be unfamiliar to the Columbia audience, there are also tangos and tunes that most of us will recognize.

"People need to be reminded how much of Latin America is in our culture. We don't realize how much this continent has influenced our music and is a part of our culture," adds the music director.

An international sampler

The extra-cultural emphasis will also be found at a post-concert bazaar featuring Latin American food and gifts for sale. The bazaar benefits FIRN Inc., a non-profit organization in Howard County that provides services to immigrants from 70 countries.

As for the musical program itself, Dawson notes that "I like to contrast flavors and feelings" in lining up musical compositions that sample several countries and centuries.

The earliest work on the program, "Hanacpachap," is a 1631 polyphonic piece originally sung while singers entered a church. Columbia Pro Cantare performs it in the Quechan language of Peru. Dawson says the rehearsal process involves studying the words in a deliberately phonetic manner, since it's safe to assume that none of the chorus members is fluent in that native tongue.

While "Hanacpachap" is a purely sacred piece, composer Ariel Ramirez's 1963 folk mass "Misa Criolla" combines sacred and secular influences from Argentina and Brazil in a substantial composition for mixed chorus, soloists and indigenous instruments.

Another sort of fusion occurs in the blending of classical and popular sounds in the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa Lobos' "Bachianas Brasileiras, No. 5." Composed between 1938 and 1945, it draws upon both J.S. Bach and Brazilian folk music. Four sacred choral works by Villa Lobos also are on the program: "Ave Maria," "Ave Verum," "Panis Angelicus" and "Pater Noster."

Also from Brazil are composer Dorival Caymmi's "Marina" and a Brazilian folk song called "Sambalele." From Argentina comes Astor Piazzola's tango suite "Angel" and Felipe Coronel Rueda's "Estrellita del Sur." Cuba contributes Ernesto Lecuona's "Malaguena" and Paquito D'Rivera's "Song for Peace."

The program concludes with several songs that American audiences will recognize: "Cielito Lindo," "Guantanamera," "Sin Ti" and "La Bamba."

Featured guest artists for this program also include soprano April-Joy Gutierrez and pianist Alison Matuskey, both popular performers from a variety of past concerts.

Columbia Pro Cantare performs Saturday, May 3 at 8 p.m. at the Jim Rouse Theatre at Wilde Lake High School, at 5460 Trumpeter Road, in Columbia. Tickets are $23, $20 for seniors and students, in advance; $25 and $22, respectively, at the door. Call 410-799-9321 or go to www.procantare.org.

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