Westport Center for the Arts’ Brown Bag Concert Series continues Nov. 17 with a free performance for harp and voice. Alyssa Toepfer, soprano, and Tabitha Reist Steiner, harp, will perform music of Debussy, Strauss and other composers. The Brown Bag concerts are free (donations accepted) and held in the sanctuary at Westport Presbyterian Church, 201 Westport Road, Kansas City, MO 64111.

Toepfer’s recent engagements include Tink Enraught (The Last American Hammer) with Opera Grand Rapids, the soprano soloist in Benjamin Boyle’s Cantata No. 1 with the Midwest Chamber Ensemble, John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man with the Salt Creek Song Festival, and Inez in Il trovatore with Kansas City Festival Opera. Favorite opera roles include Gretel (Hӓnsel und Gretel) with Opera Omaha, Littler Daughter (Proving Up) with the Ad Astra Music Festival, Jean Binnicker (Stinney: An American Execution) with Opera Grand Rapids, Mariane (Tartuffe) with Landlocked Opera, Jemmy (Guillaume Tell) with Wichita Grand Opera, Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) with The South Dakota Symphony, Zerlina (Don Giovanni) with Lawrence Opera Theatre, and Musetta (La bohème) with Opera180. Her concert soloist repertoire includes Mozart’s Requiem, Poulenc Gloria, Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, Handel Messiah, Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, and Vivaldi Gloria. As a choral musician, she is on the rosters of The Crossing, Conspirare, Spire Chamber Ensemble, The Missouri Choral Artists, Prometheus, and the Kansas City Chorale. Toepfer was a district winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Born and raised in Sioux Falls, SD, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Music at Augustana University and a Master of Music in Voice at The University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.

Steiner began her musical studies at age four in piano and at age eight in harp. An active freelancer throughout the Midwest, her playing was lauded as “…some of the most precise and beautifully inflected harp playing….” by the Kansas City Star. Steiner is principal harpist with the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and a regular extra with the Kansas City Symphony and the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. In the past, she has held principal harp positions with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Tulsa Opera Orchestra and the Washington, D.C. Summer Opera Orchestra. During the summer, she is found on stage with the Summerfest Chamber Music Festival. Steiner earned a master of music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor of music degree from Washburn University.