Arts Editor

Preparing for their joint concert has been about cross-cultural learning and links.

That's the verdict from both Eleanor Epstein, artistic director and conductor of Zemer Chai, the Jewish Community Chorus of Washington, and Diana Saez, director of Coral Cantigas, Washington's Latin American Chorus. Their groups will perform together at two concerts next week.

The initiative for Shalom y Esperanza: Jewish-Latino Connections came from Saez.

"I am always trying to use music to make connections with other people," she says.

Epstein also says that Zemer Chai is always looking for these "cross-cultural connections. It's a primary part of Zemer Chai's mission."

Several years ago, Saez's choir gave a concert on Jewish, Moorish and Christian music from medieval and renaissance Spain.

Her curiosity about things Jewish also was piqued by her many Jewish neighbors and friends ‹ she lives near the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville ‹ and that five members of her 28-person choir are Jewish.

Saez begin doing research and discovered that the tango, which was invented by immigrants in Argentina around the turn of the 20th century, had a strong Jewish connection. Not only were many composers of those dance melodies Jewish, but the dance spread to Europe and became popular in Eastern Europe among Yiddish-speakers.

For Epstein, the concert is an opportunity for her choir "to explore in a way we haven't before the music of the Sephardic Jews, to go back to Spain in the 15th century and follow the journey of those Spanish and Portuguese Jews who left and went to so many different countries, taking their music with them."

Zemer Chai and Coral Cantigas will perform separately and together. Epstein says her choir will "explore the sounds of Sephardic Jews who left Spain," including music from Morocco, Greece, Romania and Italy. "We are trying to hit as many of these countries as possible," she says.

Among the pieces that Coral Cantigas will sing is "Moisesville," a song in honor of Baron Hirsch who bought land in Argentina and elsewhere for Jewish colonization. The group also will present songs from 11th-century Spain.

Together, the groups will sing three tangos ‹ in Ladino, Spanish and Yiddish. They will perform a Ladino melody, "Durme," pairing it with a South American lullaby called "Duerme."

And there will be Hebrew songs about Shabbat and Purim with a strong Spanish influence. "If you didn't hear the words, you would think you were listening to Spanish music," Epstein says.

She is impressed by the wealth of music available for the concert, terming it "an amazing cultural treasure trove."

"The audience will feel what it was like to be Jewish in South America and what it was like to be a Sephardic Jew those many years ago," she says.

Cantor Ramon Tasat of Temple Shalom also will perform at the concerts. As an Argentine Sephardic Jew, Tasat "tops it off," Epstein says. "What makes it doubly fun is that he will be singing in Yiddish."

Shalom y Esperanza: Jewish-Latino Connections will be presented on June 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Shalom in Chevy Chase and on June 10 at 7 p.m. at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda. Tickets, $40 preferred seating or $20 general admission, are available at www.zemerchai.org, 301-963-3462 or 301-424-8296. Tickets are $25 at the door.