FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - While in the United States on a Fulbright Fellowship in 1998, Ricardo Estrada attended a performance of Verdi’s Requiem at the University of Arkansas. Estrada, an operatic tenor and manager of the Philharmonic Society of La Paz, Bolivia, was impressed by what he heard. He invited conductor David Saladino to visit La Paz, a city with a rich choral tradition.

Saladino, UA director of choral activities, leaves for La Paz on Dec. 13, 2000. He will conduct four performances of Handel’s Messiah at the Municipal Theatre and a local church on Dec. 20 - 23, in collaboration with the La Paz Town Hall Symphony and Choral Society as well as professional soloists from throughout Bolivia.

"Besides being an artistic and professional opportunity, the visit will give me a chance to expand our cultural ties with Bolivia," Saladino said. "Right now the University of Arkansas has 70 students from La Paz, and we have an active exchange program for both faculty and students through the Partners of the Americas program."

Kay Kraeft, professor of piano at the University of Central Arkansas, brought Estrada to Fayetteville to hear Saladino’s concert in 1998. Now, through Partners of the Americas, Kraeft is sponsoring Saladino’s trip to Bolivia. Partners, a non-profit group with offices throughout the country, fosters academic exchanges, English as a Second Language Programs and farmer-to-farmer exchanges.

Begun under President Kennedy as the Alliance of Progress, the program also has an arrangement with the U of A to offer in-state tuition rates to students from eastern Bolivia.

While a portion of Saladino’s research involves choral composition and writing articles for periodicals such as the Choral Journal, the trip to Bolivia will provide an opportunity for conducting, which is his principal area of research.

"I would also like to build an exchange program for music majors," Saladino said. "La Paz is a musical city, in part because of its history of Spanish settlement. The Jesuits who set up missions in South America introduced Spanish and Renaissance music, which remains very popular."

La Paz, Saladino explained, is a city conducive to building strong voices. The residents, who live at an elevation three times higher than that of Denver, must adapt to a thin atmosphere.

"The word is that people develop tremendous lung support," he said. "When I heard Ricardo sing, I was amazed by his voice. It was huge. Our concert hall was unable to contain it."

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