The group includes 25 brilliant teen singers ages 12-18, from nine states plus France. The program includes traditional songs and choral arrangements from Latin America, South African songs and dances, American Appalachian and shape-note songs and several renaissance works.

Village Harmony is an umbrella organization based in Vermont dedicated to the study and performance of ethnic singing traditions from around the world. Each summer they sponsor 10 ensembles like this one, both in New England and in numerous foreign countries, involving both teen and adult singers. Each group develops its own unique sound with a different international team of leaders, but all share common traits: a powerful, natural, unrestrained, vocal sound; a remarkable variety of vocal styles and timbres, as appropriate to the many varieties of ethnic and traditional music; and the visible, vibrant community among the singers and audience as they share in a joyous celebration of music.

Jurado, from Pasto, Colombia, is an expert in latin American choral repertoire and leads the choirs at the University of Pasto. He and his choirs hosted Village Harmony’s select touring group Northern Harmony for a week in Pasto last year in what turned out to be a most auspicious collaboration. He will lead a variety of traditional and composed pieces from Colombia and other South American countries, featuring sweet harmonies and intricate syncopated rhythms.

The remainder of the program celebrates the distinctive sounds of other world singing traditions. The South African songs all have accompanying dances and feature a rich and mellifluous vocal timbre and catchy call and response melodies. Gordon and Park have both traveled numerous times to South Africa to study those musical styles first hand.

Park comes from a family of three generations of professional traditional singers and she is a brilliant arranger and teacher of Appalachian ballads and gospel songs. The shape note songs, both old and new, feature lively counterpoint and stark poetry. Rounding out the evening will be two movements from a mass by 16th-century south German composer Gregor Aichinger.

Suggested admission at the door is is $10, $5 for students and seniors. For more information call 207-495-2928.

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