Anamer Castrello: Latin American Hits

Anamer Castrello's CD is devoted to song classics from Latin America. (By Daniel Troconis -- Gala Hispanic Theatre)

This month, mezzo-soprano Castrello, one of Washington's most distinctive singers, is intensely involved (for the In Series) in torch songs by Harold Arlen.

She also performs in Mozart operas and tours nationwide with her program "Soul of Latin America." That program, devoted to song classics from south of the border, is the inspiration of this, her first CD, a provocative and beautifully sung mixture of many Latin American flavors, from the bouncy "Cachita," with chorus and dance band, to the nostalgic "En Mi Viejo San Juan" and the sultry "Besame Mucho." There is even "It's Impossible," sung in perfectly phrased English. More information on the singer is available at http://www.acastrello.org .