PORT ANGELES — Starting this week, the inaugural Season Concerts — 11 of them by performers from across the world — is to be presented by the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts.
The unprecedented series starts with music of Scotland and Ireland, then moves to Mexico and Canada next month.
Other music on the season tour includes that of Nova Scotia, South Africa and finally, in the spring, Japanese taiko drumming mixed with hip-hop and rock ‘n’ roll.
The Juan de Fuca Festival, which will be marking its 20th anniversary in May 2013, is expanding its offerings under the same mission it has had over the past two decades: offering diverse programming that educates people about art in their backyard and beyond.
“Juan de Fuca has always offered a few concerts through the year; we thought, why not do it every month?” said Dan Maguire, who took the helm as festival director in 2011.
He and the board of directors wanted to underscore the message that “Port Angeles is an arts-friendly community,” Maguire added.
And since the festival has built up its financial reserves, he believes now is the time to take it to a new level.
Maguire got busy booking acts this past spring, and designing the subscription framework.
It offers price breaks for music lovers who buy tickets to five or more concerts between now and April, and mixes in eight local restaurants offering 25 percent discounts the night of each show.
The Celtic duo of Men of Worth opens the series this Thursday in the Little Theater at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Then come the Latin-Celtic-reggae-rockers Los Paperboys on Aug. 11; the Rolling Stones tribute band Midnight Rambler on Sept. 15.
The comedy-circus troupe Nanda on Oct. 13; and a sing-along with the 1939 classic film “The Wizard of Oz” on Nov. 24.
Electric violinist Geoffrey Castle will host a Celtic Christmas concert Dec. 16; Canadian blues singer Matt Andersen arrives Jan. 30.
The Eugene Ballet dances to The Beatles’ classics Feb. 17; Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the South African dance and gospel group, returns to Port Angeles on March 12.
And the On Ensemble, that taiko-fusion troupe, wraps the season April 20.
Venues vary from Olympic Cellars for Los Paperboys to the Elks Naval Lodge ballroom in Port Angeles for Midnight Rambler to the Port Angeles High School auditorium for Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
A complete package of tickets to all 11 shows — one a month, now through spring — costs $156, while individual concert tickets will total $194, Maguire said.
There’s also the eight-or-more option, in which prices are a few dollars off the single-ticket cost: $8 for Los Paperboys to $24 for Mambazo, with other shows at $10, $12 and $16. The next subscription tier is five to seven events, with prices going from $9 to $26.
Individual concert tickets will go from $10 for Los Paperboys to $30 for Mambazo.
Tickets for children 12 and younger are also discounted: The “Wizard of Oz” sing-along, for example, is $8 for kids and $12 for adults at the door of Peninsula College’s Little Theater.
Restaurants that are taking part in the 25-percent “dinner and a show” program include C’est Si Bon, the Cafe Garden, Cafe New Day, Gordy’s Pizza & Pasta, Kokopelli Grill, the CrabHouse, Scoozi’s at the Olympic Lodge, and Smuggler’s Landing at The Landing mall.
Season Concerts brochures and more information are available via the Juan de Fuca Festival office at 360-457-5411 and www.JFFA.org as well as the festival’s Facebook page.
Beginning the series are Juan de Fuca Festival veterans Men of Worth: Scotsman Donnie Macdonald and Irishman James Keigher.
Their songs, including songs sung in Gaelic, come from the Hebrides, Scotland’s outer islands, and from Keigher’s native County Mayo — yet they’re infused with the men’s boyhood musical heroes: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
They’re songs about Scots and Irish history, brought to America by immigrants and “time-polished,” as Macdonald said.
He and Keigher met in California in 1985 and adopted “Men of Worth,” an old song by Scottish singer Archie Fisher, as their name; the pair has since created their own blend of music and humor via voices, mandolin, guitar, mandocello, banjo, concertina and bodhran drum.
“We have an ancient yet fresh musical story to tell,” Macdonald said.
“Come get away from TV, from CNN . . . come and spend a couple of hours with us,” added Keigher, “and we’ll take you on a journey.
More details about the duo await at www.MenofWorth.com, while tickets to Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. performance are $15 at Port Book & News, 104 E. First St. in Port Angeles and at Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St. in Sequim.
Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
