Archive for category: News

The sun shone brightly for Richard Durrant’s first week of concerts as he cycled through North Wales, Manchester, The Midlands and Herefordshire…

‘It’s so wonderful to be out and about playing this beautiful music to so many people. Also nice to have a mention by Petroc Trelawney on BBC Radio 3.’

Says Richard

Above: Richard at the Theatre Clwyd
Below: all set and ready to go and performing at the Stoller Hall, Manchester

Below: with schoolchildren from St. Margaret’s Primary School in Stoke Golding

The tour continues to Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire before south west venues in Taunton and Newton Abbott, and then over to a series of concerts in the South East.

This month marks the 20th Anniversary relaunch of the children’s  album Unleashed on British Isles by Paul Kelly and Richard Durrant…

Unleashed is a collection of British Isles folk songs for children of all ages. The recordings are colourful, vivid – almost cinematic with acoustic instruments, home spun sound effects and layers of rich vocals enriching the stories in such classic songs as My Bonny, Widdecombe Faire, The Gypsy Rover and The Golden Vanity.

On May 1st their version of Drunken Sailor will appear on all streaming platforms, followed by two other tracks from the album. The entire production will then be available for all to enjoy – children and adults alike!

‘I immediately knew that Paul had something special and his involvement with children’s music particularly chimed with me. With my three young children running around and a fourth on the way I felt that Paul and I could create something special that would celebrate these happy, adventurous times.’

Says Richard

American born Paul Kelly has mixed a career as an international opera singer and a children’s music composer and producer. He initially approached Richard to appear on one of his recordings. They became friends and ended up writing and recording two albums together.

‘Recording Unleashed on British Isles with Richard was, and still is, one of the high points in my musical life. It’s right up there with performing at La Scala, and a hell of a lot more fun.’

Says Paul Kelly

Drunken Sailor is now live on iTunes and Amazon and available on all streaming platforms including Spotify.

Did you know?

Throughout the 1990’s and into the early 2000’s Richard was very involved with children’s music…

Remember Watch?

This led to several years as a writer for both Watch and its sister programme Numbertime. His many songs were heard by a generation of children – including his own!

Richard’s first encounter with BBC Schools Television came in 1994 as guest presenter on the long running series Watch. 

Remember Metalheads?

This 26 episode cartoon series was made by Telemagination and screened on CBBC from 2003.

Richard composed the music for the series with fellow musician Richard Attree  from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Both the Richard’s had studied at the Royal College of Music but only met when Richard Attree moved to Shoreham Beach.

In the run up to two shows, The Number 26 Bus to Paraguay on 3 and 4 March, Richard Durrant continues the story of his Paraguayan adventures and his exploration of the music of Barrios…

Richard’s first trip to Paraguay was centred around the launch of The Number 26 Bus to Paraguay. The tour included a concert in the Teatro Municipal, Asuncion where Barrios himself had played many years previously. At one point during the concert, the performance was stopped to welcome Richard as an ‘Esteemed Visitor’ to the capital city.

The certificate still hangs on the studio wall. Amongst so many wonderful and unexpected events there was a lovely stand out moment for Richard.

“After playing at a Barrios conference in the Hotel del Lago (pictured above) – a favourite haunt of Barrios – I was introduced to none other than Richard Stover who, years earlier had painstakingly transcribed and published most of Barrios’ solos.“

Says Richard

As a student, Richard would save up to buy these books as they came out. During their meeting in Paraguay, ‘Rico’ and he got on splendidly and stayed in touch afterwards.

Sadly, Richard Stover passed away in 2019 at the age of 74. He was an important figure in the Barrios story and is much missed. 

Shortly after Richard Durrant’s concert Richard Stover wrote the following:

Extremely musical and expressive, with virtuosity to spare. I am speaking of Richard Durrant, English guitarist who recently visited Paraguay. The public acclaimed him not only because he presented an all-Barrios program (which he played superlatively), but also because of his passion and tenderness, qualities that he communicates through his magnificent playing of the classic guitar.

Durrant is a musician of depth who can play a variety of musical styles, from the Concierto de Aranjuez with the Royal Philharmonic, to popular music and jazz. Here is a mature musician of extraordinary technical prowess.  

Richard Stover
Barrios biographer and ethnomusicologist (Caacupé, 2011)

Later came The Girl at the Airport album.Richard wrote the title track to celebrate the romance of touring abroad.

If you have a Spotify account you can listen to the music.

For this final album in the trilogy Richard wrote the title track The Girl at the Airport for guitar and string orchestra.

“I imagined flying out of Shoreham Airport bound for Paraguay aboard a white Dakota clutching my guitar case and a bundle of manuscripts. I’d stepped out of a Graham Greene novel and I could hear that string section behind my guitar long before I booked the orchestra. All I had to do was write it down.“

Says Richard

This year’s one and only French Guitar Adventurers’ holiday is taking place from 23 April and with a fresh new look…

The week is a chance to further understand and develop the fundamentals of your technique in a supportive group setting. 

As well as receiving personal tuition from Richard Durrant, you will have time to work on your music theory skills, play in guitar ensembles and develop sight reading skills whilst building confidence for the end of week performance.

This is the first of our new springtime FGAs which come with a slightly different emphasis on technique and reading skills (see * below).

In the weeks leading up to the holiday each participant will receive a preparatory one to-one-session with Richard to ensure they get the most out of the week.

The venue is a beautiful converted cognac house with a large outbuilding housing workshop space and comfortable, modern accommodation.

All dietary needs are covered, with splendid meals, an open air pool and long country walks in the secluded French countryside. 

The week is open to guitarists plus one guest. The nearest train station is Chalais, and the nearest airport Bordeaux.

Please contact Richard directly on info@richarddurrant.com for pricing or if you have any queries.

* Although we have welcomed many different styles of player over the years, we recommend that your playing standard is around about Grade 5 minimum.

At FGA your daily study and practise needs to take place on a nylon strung, classical style guitar preferably with a strap (a unique opportunity to learn to play with a strap whether standing or sitting – particularly recommended if you have ever suffered from back pain related to your playing).

In the run up to Christmas you can now buy two new creations that mark the continuing artistic partnership between Richard Durrant and artist Jon Everitt.

Both these creations are spin offs from Richard’s solo albumThe Sleep of a King – a collection of guitar music which he played during his 2022 Midsummer Cycling Music Tour. 

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The first is The sleep of a King, a beautiful book of guitar music, each piece with a written introduction by the composer and artwork by Jon Everitt. 

The books are numbered and signed by Richard.

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The second is a 400×400 print of the cover art for The Sleep of a King album.  Each image is printed with state of the art pigment inks on Canson Infinity Edition Etching  paper to provide beautiful quality, detail & extremely long lasting prints.

All the prints are signed by both Richard and Jon. The original image is now in a private collection in France. 

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Richard and Jon first worked together on Richard’s 2020 album Rewilding…

Jon’s cover art for this vinyl production was so striking that it caught the eye of online art company Hypergallery. Rewilding art prints are now sold alongside other classic album designs such as Dark Side of the Moon and Ziggy Stardust.

The original Rewilding painting is now in a private collection in the United States. 

You can also buy the album Rewilding in vinyl or as hi-rez audio files (FLAC or ALAC).

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Originally from Portsmouth, artist Jon Everitt began his career as a commercial artist and designer. He now paints full time, living in the small town of Céret in the Pyrenées Orientales near to the Spanish Border in the South of France.

Once home to Picasso, Céret is a vibrant artistic centre with a modern art museum and fine galleries. This summer Richard gave an open air recital in the courtyard of Art Sant Roche alongside an exhibition by Jon Everitt – a fitting celebration of this special friendship between a musician and an artist.