Archive for category: News

8-14 September 2025 in a converted Cognac House in the Charente

All guitarists and their guests stay at the beautiful French Retreat, a converted Cognac House in a secluded location in the Charente region. Accommodation is en-suite and all meals are cooked at the Retreat.

This an opportunity to work hard on your music in group sessions and private practise time but it is also a tranquil place to hang out with fellow guitarists and partners.  Lasting friendships are forged at FGA.  It is a great social space, there is an outdoor swimming pool and nearby fields crisscrossed by paths.

‘Becoming a Guitar Adventurer is an opportunity to explore standing up to play (my speciality and default position) and to discover the very real benefits of using a strap whether sitting or standing. Our daily sessions are best undertaken on a nylon strung, classical style instrument ideally with a cut-away and strap. This will leave you free to develop a more efficient and stylistically neutral playing position, strengthen technique and increase accuracy and agility.’

Says Richard

The FGA week progresses via enjoyable and supportive group study sessions and many chances to develop your guitar technique. A very relaxed open mic night preceeds a well attended end of week public concert in l’eglise Notre Dame, Yviers comprising student solos, ensemble pieces and other surprises.

‘Totally changed my view of music, practise and life generally.  All the better for it!’

Said Phil, an FGA participant

“‘The FGA week was a turning point when playing my guitar standing up became as natural and easy as breathing. The surprise was that it was like learning to fly, an extra dimension where the tone and overall sound was beyond anything I’d imagined I would be able to play.’

said Gill, an FGA participant

Please note that half of the available spaces are gone. So if you are considering coming along please contact us soon for a chat.

Richard has been busy getting ready for this year’s Christmas tour: Songs of the Solstice.

Come along to one of the eight shows to enjoy the growing collection of stunning original material contributed by every member of this remarkable six piece band performed alongside numbers such as Johnny Flyn’s The Burial Blessing, Fleet Foxes White Winter Hymnal and Ubi Caritas by Ola Gjeilo.

The inspiration for these shows came in 1994 when Richard was living in the 11th century Priory next door to the church of St Mary & St Peters in Wilmington, Sussex. On one quiet midwinter’s afternoon somebody knocked on the door…

‘I was asked if I could pop into the church to share some music with a group of toddlers. I happily grabbed a guitar and met the children sat around the Christmas tree. I played a few tunes and we began to sing together and as we sang the winter sun managed to peep over the top of  Windover Hill to shine through the church window. The sense of shared magic was complete.’ 

Says Richard

Richard will be joined by his long-term Christmas collaborator, the singer, songwriter and actress Amy Kakoura. You can also hear three Durrant siblings Rooney, Daisy and Django.

The sixth voice joining this year is the internationally renowned keyboardist Howard Beach with whom Richard collaborated for their 2014 album Harpsichord & Guitar.

Songs of the Solstice

7 Dec    Ropetackle Arts Centre
8 Dec    Ropetackle Arts Centre
14 Dec  Wilmington
19 Dec  Coventry
20 Dec  Scopwick

Photo 1 by Louise Durrant
Photo 2 by Guillaume Issaly (Unsplash)
Artwork by Amelia Bartlett

And what a tour it was as Richard Durrant shared his love of Paraguayan music, in particular that of the great Mangoré with audiences in England, Wales and Scotland.

‘I reconnected with many special people including lots of friends from my rural touring days. Some of the venues also felt like old friends. The two new dates on the tour, Alnwick Playhouse and The Acorn Penzance, were magical. Thanks one and all for your support and hard work.‘

Says Richard

The Guitar in Paraguay

Saturday 26 October, 2pm to 6pm

There will be one last chance to experience some of the music from the tour and get to talk about Agustin Barrios with Richard in his studio.

Richard will perform highlights of the show and then lead a discussion. You do not need to be a guitarist to attend as all are welcome to come and visit Richard’s musical HQ. Limited numbers available.

There is a free ticket for the PluckPlankStudio event for the first person to explain what is going on in this photograph:

Email your answer to info@richarddurrant.com

Three runners up will receive a copy of Richard’s book The Number 26 Bus to Paraguay containing stories, pictures and guitar music from his travels in South America.

Photo credits: Alnwick Playhouse, Dr Christopher Roberts (NCEM) and Louise & Richard Durrant.

This colourful tour of Fabulous Guitar Music with fascinating images and stories and 11 performances across the UK…

First stop is on 14 September as the opening concert of the Hurst Festival in Sussex.

During the gig Richard explores the mysteries of La Ruta Mangoreana, uncovering the beauty of Paraguayan music, sharing stories from the central southern cone of South America and explaining how all this began for him on a number 26 Brighton corporation bus.

Richard’s regular visits to this fascinating and magical part of South America have earned him accolades and awards whilst his concerts and trilogy of Paraguayan albums have uncovered the richness of guitar music being written in the region today. He is now widely recognised as one of the world’s leading interpreters of the music of Agustín Barrios. 

‘The public acclaimed [Richard] not only because he presented an all-Barrios program…but because of his passion and tenderness, qualities that he communicates through his magnificent playing of the classic guitar.’

Rico Stover. Barrios biographer and ethnomusicologist

‘In these masterworks, Durrant demonstrates his capacity as artist, making use of all guitaristic devices: one feels as if carried back to romantic periods reminiscent of a belle epoch in Latin America – mysterious, surreal, remote.’

Felipe Sosa, Founder of the Paraguayan Classical Guitar School

‘I have never heard anything like it. Durrant seems to be having fun with each measure, with each phrase and passage, each different, each delicate.’

Carlos Salcedo Author of ‘El Inalcanzable’ and authority on the life of Barrios