This is Austin’s longest running free weekly concert series (since 1980.) 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 for now, 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.
Live concerts are streamed on https://www.facebook.com/CPCThursdayConcerts
ZOOM Link for ONLINE CONCERTS: https://tinyurl.com/CPCThursConcert Meeting ID: 845 9343 2397, Passcode: 753717
In December, we’ll have weekly in-person concerts, leading up to Christmas.
This Week’s Concert is LIVE!
May 9th at NOON — Central Texas Alta Capella
In 15th century western European music, the “alta capella” was a standard grouping of
instruments used for outdoor performances: some shawms and a sackbut. But what does the
name mean?
“Alta” or loud instruments, suitable for playing in outdoor locations, would be shawms, cornettos,
sackbuts, dulcians and others. Shawms and dulcians are double reed instruments, precursors to
the modern oboe and bassoon. The sackbut is an early trombone. A common modern term for
the alta capella is “loud band”.
The Central Texas Alta Capella is a 2-year-old group that includes performers mostly from Austin
and environs (see performer bios), but occasionally draws players from the Houston area and
other parts of the state. Today’s performance is our first for the year, and we hope you enjoy the
music and the instruments!
The Performers –
Steven Hendrickson: tenor sackbut
David Lawrence: lyzard, tenor dulcian, quartbass dulcian
Susan Richter: alto shawm, tenor dulcian
John L. Robinson: bass dulcian
Barbara Stark: alto sackbut, tenor sackbut
The Pieces (not necessarily in this order)
Regina caeli laetare——————————————————-Cristóbal de Morales (1500? – 1553)
Dios los extremos condena————————————————–Francisco Guerrero (1528 – 1599)
Gagliarda del Principe de Venosa——————————————–Carlo Gesualdo (c. 1561 – 1613)
Gioite tutti in suoni——————————————————————Orazio Vecchi (1550 – 1605)
Tantz—————————————————————————–Johannes Schultz (1582 – 1653)
Amargas oras———————————————————–Francisco de Ceballos (c.1510? – 1571)
Salvator mundi [I]—————————————————————-Thomas Tallis (c. 1505 – 1585)
Latura tu———————————————————————Antoine Bruhier (1470s? – 1520s?)
Eripe me de inimicis meis————————————————–Orlando de Lassus (c.1530 – 1594)
Performer bios
Steven Hendrickson has been playing early music on sackbut for about 12 years now. He has
played with the Texas Early Music Project in Austin and Istanpitta in the Houston area.
David Lawrence has been playing early music on recorders since 1983. In 2011 he joined a
performing Medieval/Renaissance/Baroque group in Atlanta, Lauda Musicam of Atlanta, where
his interest in other early instruments bloomed. In 2013 he picked up his first Lyzard (tenor
cornetto) and it was the start of his addiction to unusual instruments. In 2013 he added tenor
dulcian to his repertoire, quickly followed by shawms, cornamusen, crumhorns, bass cornetto,
and quart bass dulcian.
Upon moving from Atlanta to Austin in 2020 he and his wife Barbara teamed up with Susan
Richter to form Central Texas Alta Capella, as well as Lauda Musicam Austin (lmatx.org). He is
also a member of the Atlanta Recorder Society (which on Zoom), Lauda Musicam of Atlanta
(rehearsing on Zoom but performing live in Atlanta), the San Antonio Recorder Society, and the
Austin Chapter of the American Recorder Society.
Susan Richter has played many woodwinds for most of her life, and has enjoyed singing in early
music groups over the years. She started doing “serious” early music (not just recorders) in the
mid-1980’s in California, and has since performed on recorders, shawm, dulcian, and voice with
the Texas Early Music Project, Austin Baroque Orchestra, and Wireless Consort.
She is a music director of the Austin ARS chapter, and teaches Recorder Consort and Beginning
Recorder classes for the Lifetime Learning Institute in Austin. Susan is the administrator and a
frequent faculty member of the Texas Toot early music workshops.
John L. Robinson has been playing oboe and recorder since 1972. He founded his first early
music ensemble – using recorders, modern wind and string instruments, and harpsichord – while
still in high school. John started playing Renaissance instruments as an undergraduate at UT
Austin in the Collegium Musicum.
He subsequently went on to found three early music ensembles in Los Angeles. John authored
“Five Little Notes: The Baroque Tenor Recorder as a Solo Instrument” in American Recorder, Vol.
LVIII, No. 1 – Spring 2017; is currently Editor Emeritus of the Southern California Early Music
News, a publication of the Southern California Early Music Society; and has funded the Early
Music Program at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls through the John L. Robinson
Educational Fund.
Barbara Stark is a reformed trumpet player who has been playing early music since her
wonderful husband, David Lawrence, bought her a one-handed recorder in 2007 so she could
play music with her mother (a life-long practitioner of early music). This quickly led to
participation in music workshops and groups in the Atlanta area. It was at one of these
workshops in 2010 that a friend strongly encouraged Barbara to pick up the sackbut
(Renaissance trombone).
Barbara has participated in numerous early music workshops since then to hone her skills on
both recorders and sackbut. She is currently the Treasurer for the Mountain Collegium workshop
and ran the 2019 Atlanta Mid-Winter workshop. After moving from Atlanta to Austin in 2020,
Barbara and David teamed up with Susan Richter to form the Central Texas Alta Capella group, as
well as Lauda Musicam Austin (lmatx.org).
| UPCOMING IN-PERSON CONCERTS May 9 – Central Texas Alta Capella June 13 – Dr. Timothy Woolsey, piano July 11 TBA August 8 – Max Milr (German classical guitarist visiting the US) September 12 – GWG (Girls with Guitars) Singers/Songwriters October 10 – Jolene Harju Madewell, flutist November 14 – Nick May, concert featuring LGBTQ+ composers/artists December we plan to have our regular Advent series, with live concerts each week |
About the Concerts
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