Thursday Noon Concerts

Since 1980, every Thursday, Central Presbyterian hosts Central Texas’ finest musicians for a 30-minute free concert at noon. Though we went online during the pandemic, we’re back to live performances, and continue to stream on Facebook for our out-of-town fans.

LIVE on March 14th at Noon

An Afternoon with Opera on Tap

Kristin Bilodeau, soprano

Veronica Williams, mezzo-soprano

Stephen Maus, baritone

Gloria Kim, piano 

Program Order:

Je dis (from Carmen by Bizet) -Kristin

Madamina, il catalogo e questo (from Don Giovanni, by W.A. Mozart) – Stephen

Dunque io son (from Il barbiere di Siviglia, by Gioacchino Rossini) -Veronica & Stephen

No one is alone (from Into the Woods by Sondheim) -Kristin

La Regatta (by Rossini) -Veronica

Evermore (from Beauty & the Beast, by Alan Menken) -Stephen

Belle Nuit (from Les contes d’Hoffmann, by Jacques Offenbach) -Kristin & Veronica

Danny Boy (Traditional) -Kristin, Veronica, & Stephen

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About our Musical Artists:

Stephen Maus- Baritone

Baritone Stephen Maus is originally from El Paso, Texas, but has called Austin home since 2012.  He is a versatile performer whose work includes opera, oratorio, choral repertoire, and musical theater, and ranges from medieval chant to newly composed works.  A regular performer with Austin Opera, Stephen also sings with Austin Cantorum and has previously performed with LOLA, Gilbert & Sullivan Austin, and One Ounce Opera.  In addition to performing, Stephen maintains a large private voice studio, accompanies several area choirs, and is a cantor/choir director/organist at St. Mary Cathedral.  When he isn’t working on musical projects, Stephen likes to spend time gardening, cooking, and playing Dungeons & Dragons!

Kristin Bilodeau- Soprano 

Kristin recently relocated to Austin, TX after a decade on the East Coast.  Kristin is thrilled to be appointed as an Austin Opera Resident Star for the 2023-2024Season. Austin Opera’s Resident Stars perform in Long Center productions, represent Austin Opera in the community performing at events, and serve as teaching artists for the company’s education programs. Kristin is on the roster at One Ounce Opera, which she just performed in the micro opera “An Artist’s Regrets”. Kristin serves as the Soprano Choral Scholar at University Baptist Church. While on the East Coast Kristin sang with companies including: MassOpera (formerly MetroWest Opera), Odyssey Opera, Opera Del West, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (BYSO), The Gena Branscombe Project, Masterworks Chorale, One City Choir, Boston Land Marks Orchestra and Grammy Award winning ensemble Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP).

Kristin received her Master’s of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music.
 

Veronica Williams

Veronica Williams is an emerging mezzo-soprano known for her “thrilling instrument” and “overwhelming authority” on stage. Most recently, Ms. Williams was the mezzo soloist in Austin Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’. Last summer, she sang with the Opera Theatre of the Rockies in Scott Davenport Richards’ Blind Injustice. In the fall season of 2022, she served as a recitalist for the Shivers Fund in Colorado Springs and Castle Of Our Skins in Boston. She has also appeared as a background vocalist on Michael Bublé’s Higher tour, and performed the role of The Witch in Chicago Summer Opera’s production of Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel. In February 2022, Ms. Williams made her concert debut with Fort Worth Opera as a soloist in their prestigious Night of Black Excellence series. In 2019, she was personally invited by Maestro Sebastian Lang Lessing to join the San Antonio Symphony as their first ever Singer-In-Residence. As a result, she was the featured soloist in Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony I, Manuel De Falla’s El Amor Brujo, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and Sergei Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky. Ms. Williams received her Master of Music Degree from Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, and her Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
 

Gloria Kim- Pianist 

Recent appearances include a recital collaboration with Nitzan Haroz on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society series, collaborations with American Lyric Theater at The Morgan Library & Museum and National Sawdust, Weill and Zankel Halls at Carnegie Hall, the Stanisław Moniuszko International Vocal Competition in Poland, and the New York premiere of an all-female chamber opera, Svadba. She has also appeared on live broadcasts with WQXR and KMFA. Career highlights include being on the music staff for the Charlottesville Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, International Vocal Arts Institute, Opera Omaha, Virginia Opera, and serving as music director for projects with American Lyric Theater, Heartbeat Opera, and The Muses Project.

 An advocate for music in higher education, she has served as a faculty member at the Mannes School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory (CUNY), NYU, and has given master classes at Ithaca College and The University of Texas, as well as other venues. A native of Austin, TX, Dr. Kim received her Bachelor and Master degrees at The University of Texas, and her Doctoral degree at the University of Minnesota. An accomplished violinist, she was in the symphony orchestras at both universities, and has been active in the orchestral and chamber music scenes in Austin and Minneapolis.

Opera on Tap Austin
Opera on Tap (OOT) was born in 2005 at Freddy’s Bar and Backroom in Brooklyn and incorporated in 2007 to promote opera as a viable, living and progressive art form and to support the developing artists who continue to keep the art form alive. What began as a small monthly gathering of ambitious, classically trained singers looking for more performance opportunities, has grown into a producing organization that has gained a loyal audience base and national recognition as an innovative force on the classical music scene. Through its Chapter program, which now has over twenty vibrant national (and international!) chapters, OOT has created a large network of performers, creators, and supporters. Our mission is to expose new audiences to opera and classical music by taking opera and classical music out of the concert hall and performing it in alternative venues, to aid young performers in their development by giving them the opportunity to perform and to promote and support them through our organization and to help promote new classical works of contemporary classical and operatic composers. Learn more about our programs here.

IN PERSON UPCOMING CONCERTS
March 14 – Opera on Tap Austin
April 11 – Austin Brassworks
May 9 – Central Texas Alta Capella
June 13 TBA
July 11 TBA
August 8 – Max Milr (German classical guitarist visiting the US)
September 12 – GWG (Girls with Guitars) Singers/Songwriters
October 10 TBA
November 14 – Nick May, concert featuring LGBTQ+ composers/artists
December we plan to have our regular Advent series, with live concerts each week

UPDATE FOR 2024: This is Austin’s longest running free weekly concert series. When Covid hit, we had to go online, but we kept going with online concerts each week, some live, some videoed. Covid changed many things, and one is the availability of musicians to play each week, so beginning in 2024, we’ll have one live concert monthly, on 2nd Thursdays. The other weeks will be online, some will be videos of musicians who will be online with us, and some will be curated from YouTube videos, but we’ll continue to have great music each week.

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About the Concerts

FACEBOOK Link for IN-PERSON CONCERTS: We will now use Facebook to stream in-person concerts: https://www.facebook.com/CPCThursdayConcerts

COVID SAFETY: Masks are optional in the church, but for everyone’s safety, if you are unmasked, we ask that you socially distance yourself from our musicians and anyone who is masked. If you are not feeling well, please do not attend in person, and instead you can watch online. 

LUNCH: On weeks that are live, to make a reservation for lunch, please use this link: https://tinyurl.com/CPCConcertLunch

PARKING: You can park for free (2 hours) at the Capitol Visitors’ Parking lot (corner of Trinity & 12th St .) There is almost always street parking (meters) on Trinity (2 blocks to the East.) There is nearby garage parking at St. David’s Episcopal Church and First Baptist Church. There are surface lots on Trinity at 7th St. (on the east side of road.) Capitol Metro comes pretty close to the church.  

See you Thursday!
Kathi, Coordinator, CPC Thursday Noonday Concerts
Contact me at