A Victorian Christmas concert with John Doan is coming to Oak Harbor on Sunday, Dec. 16, at 4 p.m. at the Oak Harbor United Methodist Church.
The festive seasonal program is a live version of Doan’s Emmy-nominated public broadcasting television special which re-enacts what it might have been like to celebrate Christmas a century ago. Filled with humor and nostalgia, the show explores how the Victorians invented many Christmas traditions people in the 21st century still remember and quite a few that have been forgotten.
The 20-string harp guitar, classical banjo and ukelin are but a few of the original instruments to be featured.
Admission is a $10 donation for adults, $5 for children between 12 and 18 and free for kids under 12. Tickets may be purchased at the Daily Grind, Coupeville Pharmacy and at the church office; seating is limited. The church is at 1050 SE Ireland St.
The aim of this concert is to recapture the feeling of a time before radio and TV when our ancestors provided most of their own musical home entertainment, especially at the holidays.
During the concert, Doan plays dozens of turn-of-the century instruments once popular in American parlors, on vaudeville stages and in mandolin orchestras. In addition to playing each instrument, he explains their history in an entertaining and often zany fashion, enhanced by showing slides of old catalogs and archival photographs. Doan brings the audience into the act by encouraging singing or whistling many beloved American carols to a nineteenth century accompaniment.
Doan’s performance will also include several arrangements from his CD of traditional carols titled “Wrapped in White — Visions of Christmas Past.”
Doan is a touring and recording artist who has appeared on radio and television across the country, including his own PBS specials “A Christmas to Remember With John Doan. He recording “Eire — Isle of the Saints” was voted best Celtic Album of the Year by NAV Music Awards.
For more information, call the United Methodist Church office at 675-2441 or 678-6449.
