Maddie Poppe to usher in new year at UNI: Musician to perform with Waterloo-Cedar Falls Orchestra

CEDAR FALLS – Maddie Poppe and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Orchestra will welcome the new year with a musical celebration at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. on Dec. 31.

This will be Poppe’s first performance with an orchestra, but the Season 16 winner of the reality show “American Idol” has no trepidation toward this new musical horizon.

“I’m more excited than anything. A lot of the time, all the pressure is on me. It will be nice to perform with a group. I feel like there’s less responsibility on me,” Poppe said in a phone interview.