OGDEN — A local nonprofit organization that seeks to promote and enrich Northern Utah’s music scene and its performers will be featuring a slew of rising artists at an event this weekend.

NEXT Ensemble will celebrate Ogden’s fledgling musicians with its first-ever “Blooming Artists” concert on Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. The concert will be held at the Treehouse Museum, where a diverse array of young performers — most of whom are college-aged — will take the stage.

“We just wanted to feature artists that are on their way — people that are new, up-and-coming, that we think have a lot of talent, that are going to do great things here in Ogden,” Mickey Larson, who chairs NEXT Ensemble’s board, told the Standard-Examiner.

Angela Choberka of the Ogden City Council will be hosting the event, which also will feature floral scenic art from Lindsay Huss and Lindsea Garside around the stage.

The lineup for the concert is as follows:

• Leo Hume playing guitar.
• Ben Norlem, Ethan Porter, Sean Wilson, Sam Malonee and Patrick Johnson performing as a jazz combo.
• Ally Yardley and David Bennett performing a piano and flute duet.
• Kamryn Shepherd and Emma Peterson performing a piano duet.
• Bennett Larsen performing a piano solo.

While a children’s museum may not be an obvious choice as a concert venue, Larson’s organization is no stranger to presenting performed music in a variety of spaces.

“We produce small pop-up concerts here in Ogden, and our main mission is to meet people where they are,” he said. “So, we try to do concerts downtown primarily: in coffee shops, in bars, in museums and in kind of found places.”

These pop-up shows are in service of the organization’s greater mission, which is to provide local artists with opportunities to perform, and also be recognized and compensated for sharing their talents.

Additionally, NEXT Ensemble hopes to foster a greater appreciation of music within the community and break down barriers toward attending concerts.

“We try to take away the stigma of going to a classical concert, because it’s like a whole thing when you go,” Larson said. “You go to the symphony and you’re like, ‘Well, now I can’t do anything else.’ And it’s the parking, and it’s the whole thing. So, we do these small concerts for people who would not normally go. … Myself, I’ve got two little kids, and I own a business here in Ogden, and so it’s just like nuts. But I love the arts, and so I want to go.”

After “Blooming Artists,” NEXT Ensemble will be holding its summer send-off concert “Flamingo Jazz” — featuring New Orleans-style jazz performances — on May 18 at Historic 25th Street’s Alleged lounge.

For more information or to purchase tickets for Saturday’s concert, go to https://www.nextensemble.org.

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