John Doan - A Victorian Christmas

Saturday, December 8th - 7:30 p.m.

The Victorian Christmas Concert with John Doan is a much anticipated annual concert tour through North America. The Emmy-nominated show explores how the Victorians invented many Christmas traditions we remember and quite a few we have forgotten.

The concert recaptures the feeling of a time before radio, TV, computer games, DVD, CD and MP3 players provided most of our musical home entertainment. Amateurism was very much alive back then, and people actually entertained themselves, especially at the holidays.

During the concert, Doan plays more than a dozen late 19th-century instruments, such as the harp guitar, classical banjo, chartola and ukelin, all original American instruments. These instruments were once popular in American parlors, on vaudeville stages and in mandolin orchestras. John Doan’s powerful storytelling takes the audience on a tour through the history and evolution of social interaction through music.

The audience becomes part of the show by singing (or whistling) along to a 19th-century accompaniment. Twenty-one arrangements and medleys of favorite carols are performed on dozens of traditional Americana musical instruments. After the concert, the audience is invited to come up on stage for a closer look at the fine craftsmanship that produced these vintage instruments.