Susan Cambell
Executive Director
I strive to ensure the arts are meaningful, impactful, and relevant to my community. In order for that to happen, creatives must have a solid support system in place, and it is that ideal that steers my career as an Arts Administrator.
My community-mindedness is reflected through my volunteer work with the Ogden City Arts Advisory Committee. I am an advocate for the continued development of Ogden’s Nine Rails Creative District.
As an active flutist, I can be found playing chamber music with NEXT Ensemble, principal flute with Chamber Orchestra Ogden, or as a soloist at the Ogden Bach Festival. I hold a BA in Music from the University of St. Thomas, an MM in Flute Performance from the University of Minnesota, and an MA in Arts Administration from Southern Utah University.
Carey Cambell
Program Guide & Artistic Advisor
I'm an Associate Professor of Music at Weber State University, where I teach courses in music history and music in culture. I'm also musicologist-in-residence for the NEH-funded “Beyond the Beat” project at SpyHop, a youth media organization in SLC. I'm the Artistic Advisor and Host for NEXT Ensemble, an Ogden-based non-profit dedicated to performing chamber music in nontraditional places and transforming the concert experience. My current research studies issues of listening and identity in a postmodern musical landscape, and my electronic compositions and improvisations explore the boundaries between music and noise, and of expression and formalism.
Holly Bowden
Board President
I am classically trained on piano, flute and piccolo, and I find music to be a more precise way of expressing my life than words are. I’m curious about life and love people who have that same curiosity. I am a librarian at Weber State University and an active performer for groups in the Ogden area. I also enjoy getting out into our mountains to play; hiking, biking, boating, snowboarding, or chilling by a campfire. Avicii, Miike Snow, and live jazz music are guaranteed to make me dance.
For me, classical music is often a reflection of the composer’s interpretation of life, whether that be the personalities of the characters in fairy tales, or the flow of a river, or the depths of sadness felt when we have lost love or life. Our culture’s latch on social media has me convinced that we are all seeking connections. With live performances of classical music, connections can be felt in a way that is unique and memorable to a degree that it changes us. It can connect us as performers and listeners by triggering emotions during the same moment, the same phrase, or the same note. In the same way people from all walks of life can agree on the beauty of a sunset, they can find that same agreement and connection in the beauty or comedy or ugliness or sadness of classical music.
One of the reasons I love NEXT Ensemble is that they work to take away the disconnect between classical music performances and the audiences attending them. Classical music can be digested without being served on a gold fork. The shows presented by NEXT Ensemble are performed by local musicians, with welcoming of audience participation, without an expected dress code, with introductions and descriptions in familiar language, and in performance spaces that are very un-concert hall like. These things are important to me because I want to share my love of classical music with the people in my life who might have spent a lifetime avoiding it because of the seemingly snobbishness of it.
Kelli Barkema
Board Secretary
I am a native Utahn who loves Ogden and all things music. A current soprano with a small local ensemble, Vocalis, and former chorus member of Utah Symphony Opera, I love being surrounded by - and making - music.
Classical music is more important now than ever! It’s a genre that can bring the masses together. It’s a universal language. One that teaches us love, patience, kindness, empathy and sympathy along with plenty of drama at times, too. Classical Music connects us in a way that tv, movies and books can’t quite do. And its boundless. There are very few people that aren’t impacted in one way or another, by classical music and the story it tells.
This is why I’m so passionate about NEXT Ensemble. We encourage people from all walks of life to come as they are - all are welcome! We make events universally affordable and accessible to everyone! The variety of performance themes and interactive dialogue between performers and audience keeps audiences engaged, continually learning and glad they came and spent the evening with us.
This is my first year on the Board of Directors.
Mickey Larson
Board Member
I am an Ogden enthusiast and arts advocate. I currently serve as an Ambassador for United Way and sit on the board of Next Ensemble and Ogden Musical Theatre. I earned a BA in Musical Theatre from Weber State University and I manage Larson Pool Plastering with my husband. I have performed across the Wasatch Front on stage and film, singing, acting and public speaking. I have been a guest speaker for National Plasterers Council in Washington DC and will speak again in Houston Texas in 2020. I have been the Director of Marketing for CenterPoint Legacy Theatre and I work in Theatre administration frequently. Mother of two delightfully irreverent children, my greatest accomplishment is getting them to bed at 8:00PM.
Classical Music heals, empowers and educates all walks of life, every socioeconomic background, race and religion. It is the great human experience we can all collectively experience together or by ourselves uniting our hearts and minds. It truly binds humanity together in it’s simplest form.
NextEnsemble recognizes the incredible power of music and it's power to bring our community together. By allowing the community to participate directly with the music in a completely new and unexpected way, they transform the concert experience; allowing all audience and musicians to experience the magic of music.
Christina Miller
Board Member
I am a local writer and photographer. I love all things Ogden, and you'll find me supporting many Ogden art and community events. For my day job, I spend my time as a geek translator, and I’m a data geek.
I’m a music lover, but I really don’t know much especially regarding classical music. I tend to listen to classical music and more specifically movie soundtracks to help me process my emotions and even understand the world around me better. But through Next Ensemble I get to learn the meaning of these pieces and understand the context they were created. It helps me relate to the music even more. So, I joined the Next Ensemble board because I have loved the music and the experiences I’ve had attending the shows.
Don Keipp
Board Member
Dr. Donald Keipp taught percussion and jazz at Weber State University. He received his degrees in his home state of Iowa. Don has taught at universities and performed with symphonies in Iowa, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Utah. He is a freelance percussionist and has performed with area jazz quartets and Brazilian bands. For 30 years he was the drummer for saxophonist Joe McQueen. Dr. Keipp presently is the director of the 18-piece Crosstown Big Band. His music studies have taken him to Austria, India, Cuba, Brazil, Ireland, and Ghana.
Classical music is to be listened to, not simply heard in the background and live performances allow the best opportunity to experience the music. It opens us to new experiences and feelings. It stretches our ears.
The Next Ensemble promotes classical music, and not just Western classical music. I appreciate the excellent performances that I have heard, in venues that have a relaxed atmosphere with food and drinks. Participation is an important function of life, and being on the board has allowed me to not only get involved with live music in downtown Ogden, but also to meet and work with some incredibly talented people.