The Songs & The Plays - Kean on Shakespeare

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The Songs & The Plays Listen on Youtube Love’s Labours Lost (1593-94) A revised and polished version of this play was presented for Queen Elizabeth I and her court at Christmas 1598. However the elevated language and subject matter of the drama suggests it was always intended for a sophisticated and highly literate audience. There are two parallel plots – one ‘high’ comedy and one ‘low’ comedy. In the high comedy the King of Navarre and his friends make a pact to ‘fast and study’ and to have no contact with women for three years. No sooner have they agreed than the Princess of Aquitaine and her ladies in waiting arrive to discuss ‘state matters’. Inevitably the King falls in love with the Princess and his friends with the French ladies in waiting. The Gentlemen find loophole in their vows and woo and win women with a dance. The Ladies become aware of their broken vows and treat the noblemen with scorn. In the low comedy the page Moth and the clown Costard ridicule the exaggerated m...
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Spain: Heart of Fire - The Inspiration & the Passion

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 Spain: Heart of Fire


The Inspiration & the Passion

From the mountains to the sea, Spain has a special fascination for travellers and tourists. Few people ever experience the classical music of this passionate culture. Laments, lullabies and serenades, little known outside Spain, were the inspiration for this album.   

After meeting her favourite opera singer Teresa Berganza, and encouraged by her friend Rosario Serrano, the renowned Spanish flamenco dancer, Helena began two years of intensive study to research a personal programme of Spanish Song. “I wished to pay tribute to this beautiful and passionate music. Spain has inspired composers from many countries, but only Spanish composers capture its true spirit.”

The recital programme was performed by Helena at various historical halls and music venues across the UK with her accompanist Graham Jackson, LRAM. ARCM. 

The Instituto Cervantes in Manchester hosted the recital with lectures and a photographic exhibition by Brenda Kean, Helena’s mother and abstract paintings inspired by a lifetime of love of Spain by Frank Kean, Helena’s father. The family were honoured to be the only non-Spanish performers invited to participate in the opening ceremony of the Cervantes Institute’s winter concert series, officiated by the Spanish Ambassador and including world famous international Spanish Flamenco guitarist, Juan Martin.

Helena gratefully acknowledges the support of the Instituto Cervantes, the British Library, Anne Nuttall and the wonderful librarians of the Stock Massey Music Library in Burnley, voice coach Mary Seaford, accompanist Anne Mott and Nerja Cultural Centre, Andalusia.


“This is my Camino, my pilgrimage 

and my passionate tribute to Spain – Heart of Fire”


Here is a recording of my first performance of this recital given at Towneley Hall in 2000. It's a bit grainy and wobbly as it's taken from an old camcorder tape my father made but it is the only surviving video of me singing. It features five of the songs from the Album Spain: Heart of Fire

 


 

 

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