(bright music) - Utopia Early Music Ensemble's Christmas concert is an annual tradition not to be missed.

It brings warm and lively medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music to Salt Lake City audiences.

And here to tell us more is Emily Nelson.

Hi, Emily.

- Hi.

- Thanks for being here.

- Thank you for having me.

- So first, tell me a little more about the ensemble.

- Sure.

So we've been around for, this is our 15th season actually, (chuckling) which is hard to believe.

And we give performances of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music here in Salt Lake City.

Yeah.

- Okay.

And you have a playful, open-minded approach, you say?

- Yes, we do.

(Mary laughing) We try.

(laughing) - I like that, I like that.

And let's talk about Celtic Christmas.

You've got a great concert coming up.

- Yeah, we're really excited to bring this one back.

This is a concert that, we've done this program a few times before, and a lot of people have expressed that they really enjoyed it.

And we always get really big crowds for this one.

And a lot of people told us the last couple of years that they've kind of made it part of their holiday tradition, so we thought, you know, let's just give the people what they want.

(Mary and Emily laughing) And we're just so happy that this is one of the things that they want, so.

- Right, right.

And you've got music from Scotland, England, and where else?

- Yeah, Wales.

We have a beautiful, a couple of beautiful Welsh pieces that we're singing and playing.

I think there's a Manx piece, Cape Breton Island, which is not in in Europe, but it's, you know, in Canada.

That's sort of a style that's sort of an extension of that tradition, there'll be a little bit of that kind of music.

There's a combination of sort of more traditional, like ancient chant, but also some kind of more folk-like things, and I think it's a real crowd-pleaser, yeah.

- Oh, yeah, and it's not a typical Christmas faire, so.

And you've got a variety of instruments, I'm sure.

- We do.

We have a wonderful fiddle player named Bronwen Beecher.

She's kind of a crowd favorite around here, I think.

And a person named Ben Spiegel who plays Irish flute, and his wife Cyndie Spiegel who plays an instrument called bodhran.

So yeah, we think it's gonna be really special.

- Sounds great.

Thank you so much for being here- Thank you.

- And telling us about it, thanks.

And if you'd like to know more about that upcoming Celtic Christmas concert from Utopia Early Music Ensemble, it's December 15th and 16th at 7:30, and December 17th at 5:00 at the Cathedral's Church of St. Mark's.

Go to utopiaearlymusic.org.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching "Contact."

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