Kevin T. Padworski

Chancel Choir Director

Kevin T. Padworski serves as Chancel Choir Director at Augustana Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Denver. In addition to this role, he also serves as the Artistic Director of The Colorado Chorale and Director of Vocal Music at Colorado Academy. Padworski performs extensively, and has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards declaring mastery in multiple disciplines: conducting, voice, saxophone, and keyboards. Professional appearances include the Colorado Repertory Singers, Colorado Choral Arts Society, Colorado Symphony, Colorado Symphony Chorus, Cincinnati Youth Choir, Dallas Symphony, DCINY Concerts Orchestra, Mid-America Concert Productions, Evans Choir, Jubilate Deo Chorale and Orchestra, Lamont Symphony Orchestra, New England Wind Ensemble, Opera Colorado, University of Denver, Stratus Chamber Orchestra, American Baptist Churches USA, and numerous collaborative and solo performances.

Padworski holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in conducting and literature from the University of Colorado, and the master and bachelor of music degrees in conducting and music education from the University of Denver and Eastern University. He is an active composer and writes for soloists, instrumental, and choral ensembles with a particular interest in creating robust and engaging orchestrations and accompaniments. Padworski’s music has been performed at local, state, regional, and national ACDA conferences, receiving premieres in venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Votivkirke in Vienna, and his commissions have received accolades including recognition from Americans for the Arts. His works are available through Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Hal Leonard, Pavane, and MusicSpoke.

Contact Kevin at 303-388-4678 ext. 111 or by email.

Steven Aguiló-Arbues

Choristers and Cantabile Director

Argentinean-American Steven Aguiló-Arbues enjoys an active career as a conductor, chorus master, vocal coach and recitalist. He currently serves as Artistic Director and Conductor for Opera Fort Collins. In addition, he joined the music staff of Opera Theatre Saint Louis as Cover/Assistant Conductor for productions of Die Fledermaus and Don Pasquale in the summer of 2025. He recently served as Conductor and Chorus Master of the Crested Butte Summer Classics Festival  where he conducted symphonic works as well as Mozart’s Così fan tutte for the 2024 season.
Steven’s love for art song and contemporary works have also led him to work with Art Song Colorado as a conductor, recitalist, vocal coach and recording producer. He has also taught and worked at institutions like the Manhattan School of Music, Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and University of Colorado Boulder. He earned his Professional Studies Certificate and Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He currently resides in Colorado with his wife and daughter.

Emily Murdock

Soprano, Augustana Vocal Ensemble

Soprano Emily Murdock is a versatile performer whose performances “resonate well with the audience” (Opera News). Adept at singing music from the Renaissance era to the present day, Emily performs frequently with the Central City Opera Touring Artists and has also been featured as a soloist with Vox Anima in London, Boulder Opera, Opera Maine, Opera in the Ozarks, the Boulder Fringe Festival, Pine Mountain Music Festival, Opera Colorado, and many regional chorales and orchestras. Emily has been successful in many multi-round competitions, including the Denver Lyric Opera Guild competition, the National Semi-Finals of the NATS Artist Award recital competition, the National Finals of the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition, and the Regional Round of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She received her Master of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her Bachelor of Music in Voice and Flute Performance from the University of Montana. Raised in Whitefish, Montana, Emily resides with her husband, young daughter, and dog near Denver.

Blake Nawa`a

Tenor, Augustana Vocal Ensemble

A jack of all trades who hopes to occasionally exhibit some mastery, Blake Nawa’a works around the wider Denver metro area as a voice teacher, musical theatre music director, collaborative pianist, conductor, and soloist. He is a double-graduate of the University of Denver with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting. He sings with many of Denver’s choral ensembles, including St Martin’s Chamber Choir, the Colorado Bach Ensemble, and the Evans Choir, and he also music directs productions with various Denver-area theatre companies. Blake is the music director of the seasonal Original Dickens Carolers, and in 2021, he became the assistant conductor of the Colorado Chorale.

As a voice teacher, Blake works with beginning to advanced students on repertoire in all genres, and he teaches in locations including Parker, Greenwood Village, and in Denver. An avid, self-avowed music nerd, he is prone to periodic bursts of musical research, one of which spawned the YouTube recital series SONGspeare, an exploration of art song settings of Shakespeare’s words.

Keith Williamson

Bass, Augustana Vocal Ensemble

Keith Williamson, a Colorado native, is the bass member of the Augustana Vocal Ensemble (AVE), the professional vocal quartet for Augustana Lutheran Church. He Is also a twenty-seven-year veteran of the Opera Colorado chorus, and sang for twenty-one years with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Keith has also performed solo roles in several Opera Colorado productions, including Gianni Schicci, Macbeth, Sweeney Todd, The Barber of Seville and Don Pasquale. In addition, Keith has performed regionally in staged productions of Copeland (The Tender Land), Menotti, (Amahl and the Night Visitors), and Purcell (Dido & Aeneas). His solo concert repertoire includes both Mozart’s and Verdi’s Requiems, Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passions and Orff’s Carmina Burana. He performed in the 2004 regional premier of Tan Dun’s Water Passion, conducted by the composer. Since 1995, Keith had performed for more than twenty seasons in a Madrigal Dinner production, in which he portrayed the Lord of the manor. Keith has also performed Bach’s Coffee Cantata, Menotti’s The Telephone, and Purcell’s La Serva Padrona with the Walden Chamber Music Society of Colorado. In July of 2019, Keith was a chorister for Bravo! Vail’s first fully staged performance of Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca, with an international cast and the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Keith has a degree in Nursery and Landscape Management from CSU and works for Little Valley Wholesale Nursery in Brighton, Colorado.

VOLUNTEER MUSIC STAFF

Tim Garrington

Tim Garrington has enjoyed playing piano, harpsichord, and organ most of his life. He started accompanying choirs when he was 14 by playing 100% Chance of Rain, the story of Noah. He accompanied the Augustana Choir on three European tours and was the keyboardist for the Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra at Augustana for almost two decades. He has performed multiple works including J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #5 and Claude Bolling’s Suite for Chamber Orchestra and Jazz Piano Trio.  He enjoys sharing his love of music in support of the music and youth ministries at Augustana.

Marcia Olson

Marcia Olson directs the Cherub Choir. An active member in Chancel Choir and Augustana Ringers, she enjoys working with children. Marcia is retired as Vice Principal at Mracek Middle School in Aurora, Colorado.