(bright music) - The Noorda Center for the Performing Arts at Utah Valley University celebrates wonder through engaging world-class experiences curated for Utah Valley.

And here with more information about upcoming holiday performances, Executive Director Alex Malone.

Hi Alex, welcome back.

- Thanks so much, Mary.

- Great to be here.

- I know.

- You're just so happy about your holiday shows.

- I love the holidays, and I love presenting great music and music from around the world here in Utah County.

- [Mary] I know, and I think it's really interesting for the holidays this year, Hawaiian and Irish.

- I know, and they go well together.

(both laughing) - [Mary] So let's talk about December 5th first.

- December 5th, we have Kalani Pe'a, who's a three-time Grammy award-winning Hawaiian star.

He's playing his own music.

He's playing some Christmas standards.

All with Hawaiian theme.

It's gonna be so much fun.

- Okay, great.

And then December 21st.

- December 21st.

- You go to Ireland.

- We're going all to Ireland with Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy and their entire family, six children, all on stage with them.

Irish fiddling Christmas, classic tunes, virtuostic fiddling, and an entire family experience on December 21st.

- Okay, and the whole family performs on the fiddle.

- The whole family - will be up there performing.

- All six kids.

- She performs, Donnell performs, and they dance.

They have Irish dancing as well.

- Okay.

All right.

- Yeah.

- Great.

Great.

- So you've got lots coming up for the holidays.

And after the holidays though, you have more.

- We don't slow down after the holidays.

In January, we have a hip-hop orchestra called, Ensemble Mik Nawooj.

They have a full orchestra strings and MC hip-hop rapper.

- Oh, wow.

Okay.

You're really branching out, I have to say.

- We're doing some fun stuff.

- And you're the one who gets to book it all.

- I get to have that fun.

I get to decide who we bring in and make sure that what we're doing is great with the Utah County audience.

- I love it.

And are your audiences good?

- They're coming and they're loving it.

It's such a great venue to see everything from Hawaiian music, to Irish music, to a hip-hop orchestra.

- Great.

Great.

Well, Alex, thanks so much for being here again.

And good luck with all the concerts.

- Thank you so much.

- And if you'd like to know more about those upcoming concerts at the Noorda, holiday shows and more after the holidays, go to uvu.edu/thenoorda.

That's uvu.edu/thenoorda.

I'm Mary Dickson, thanks for watching "Contact".

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