A unique musical program will be offered at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, headed by Toria Burrell-Hrencecin of Riverside in the ballroom of the Oak Park Arms, 150 N. Oak Park Ave. The program will feature students and teachers of the Language and Music School, founded in 1994 by Argentinian Maria Fermi, who serves as director of the school.

Burrell-Hrencecin, who was born in Crawley, England, is a pianist, flutist and composer who left England after earning a master’s degree from Cambridge University and after her marriage to Dr. David Hrencecin, an American mathematician and fellow vocalist. Their 4-year-old daughter, Sophie, attends the Language and Music School in the Spanish immersion preschool program.

“My mission for this concert is trifold: to help the school; to create an opportunity for the teachers and musical parents of the LMS to perform solos; and to offer good quality classical concerts. I will perform solos and duets on flute, piano and voice at the concert,” she said.

Burrell-Hrencecin published her first solo album in 1998, “Sweet Baby, Lullabies to Soothe Your Newborn,” available at major book stores. She founded and directed the Chicago Chamber Choir in 1999.

Other performers include Denise Trautmann, who will perform on both the Chinese and Western flutes, piano and voice. Riversider Lauren Vogel will offer interpretive dance numbers, and Gretchen Wells-Malitz will perform on her guitar and sing. Gregor Hansson will play the guitar.

Christine Kelner, teacher of voice and Italian at the school, also will perform. The program will include light classical works by Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Faure, Goddar, Albenitz, and Spanish, Mexican and Irish folk and show tunes.

No tickets are required, but donations will be accepted at the door. Suggested donations are $15 for adults and $10 for children, seniors or students.

Trautmann, Hansson and Wells-Malitz are also teachers at the school. Private and group lessons for ages 4 months to adult feature not only music (piano, guitar, vocal, flute, clarinet, saxophone, accordion and violin), but also Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Arabic, German, Russian, and Polish languages. The school believes foreign language is crucial to our nation’s economic competitiveness, to national security and to the understanding of diverse cultures.

For more information on the recital or interest in a trial class, phone (708) 524-5252
 
Summertime in Africa

When friends ask Caroline Gangware about her summer, she will be able to mention to them that she picked up a big sunburn in Zanzibar. If that doesn’t impress them, she can explain how she taught English to 10-year-olds in Africa for six weeks while living in Bagamoyo, a native village in Tanzania.

Caroline was a part of a group named “Cross Cultural Solutions,” a volunteer organization based in New Rochelle, N.Y., that offers participants the choice of working in a hospital, helping in an AIDS Foundation, or teaching English in a school.

“I studied Swahili and learned some of the language and would like to return next summer in a different capacity, perhaps as an intern,” she said.

“While many earlier volunteers to third world countries needed to purify their own drinking water, we were fortunate to have glass gallons of water delivered to us,” she explained. “I lived in a house with five roommates. The house was very clean, and we had someone doing the cooking, so it was very pleasant. There were 30 of us in our group.”

Caroline summarized by saying, “I believe a part of volunteerism is to get ideas out, to exchange ideas and learn from each other. There is much work to be done.”

For those interested in the program, the volunteers can choose between a six-week or three-week program. Their Web site is www.crossculturalsolutions.org

Caroline is back at the University of Illinois, where she will spend her junior year majoring in economics with a minor in political science.

Although classified as Third World countries, there are wonderful international hotels and resorts in Tanzania and in Zanzibar, with opportunities for camera safaris. The World Health Organization is based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.