Damsel and Swains, billed as a pleasurable pastiche of Shakespearean entertainment, will be coming to an intimate setting in Estevan on Sept. 23 as the Home Roots, home concert series gets underway for a new season of musical entertainment.
Damsel and Swains features the talents of Josee Vaillancourt, Brian Richardson and Ryszard Tyborowski.
The evening's concert will be held in the home of Arlene and Kelly Lafrentz at Boundary Dam beginning at 7:30. The home concerts feature musical entertainment groups and individuals who come to a private home to provide entertainment for the night in a living or family room in front of between 15 and 50 people, according to the space available in the host's home. The admission fee is modest with most of the funds being directed toward the musicians.
This will be the second year for the series that will feature four or five visits by professional musicians to Estevan and area homes.
The first concert featuring the three entertainers from Manitoba tells the story of Will Kempe, a song and dance man with the Chamberlain's Men who parts ways with the company as they are about to set up in their new digs, the Globe. He makes his way to a friend's inn where he spends the evening singing, dancing and learning to appreciate a newfangled instrument, called a guitar, that a French monk has brought over from Spain.
This is the setting for what amounts to an Elizabethan revue that includes audience participation, a sort of Shakespeare Lite in 45 minutes as well as Shakespeare Lovely, with tunes by Tyborowski and his guitar and the vocals of Vaillancourt and Richardson, who plays the role of Kempe as he jigs and cavorts around the stage.
Vaillancourt was born in Manitoba and raised in Quebec where she received classical piano training before turning to her vocal talents for an enriching career, which now includes everything from medieval Shakespeare, Bach, church chants, Dowland lute songs and oratorio's arias.
Richardson has led a diverse career path as an actor, playwright, folk musician with the Blarney Band and Longbottom, Winnipeg Folk Festival host, storyteller, theatre fusionist and Heritage Theatre at the Forks entertainer. A Winnipeg resident, Richardson spent time in the Music Hall in his native Ireland and carried his talents into Canada for the Winnipeg and Edmonton Fringe Festivals and even got to take on the role of his countryman George Bernard Shaw, at Shawfest in 2012.
Tyborowski, who now works and lives in Winnipeg teaches classical guitar at the Marcel A. Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba and the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Arts. He has performed all across North America and Europe and has been rewarded with numerous grants and scholarships in recognition of his talents.
Anyone wishing more information regarding this concert and upcoming concerts or inquiring about tickets and invitations is asked to contact Shirley Andrist at 306-634-9302.
