Richard Durrant offers home gig at Shoreham's Ropetackle Arts Centre

Composer and concert guitarist Richard Durrant is back at his home venue the Ropetackle Arts Centre in Shoreham for a special celebration of the ukulele on October 26.

He'll be joined onstage by his quartet The Burning Deck plus Brighton born singer songwriter Rabs and the newly formed Ropetackle Ukulele Orchestra, alumni from Richard's Ukulele workshops in Sussex.

Richard said: “Alongside tracks by Kate Bush, JS Bach, Django Reinhardt and Rodrigo this cast of thousands – more accurately around twenty, which is about all there’s room for on the Ropetackle stage – will among other pieces, perform Gogoniant from my first ukulele quartet.”

Richard added: “ People can be dismissive of the uke, but then they’ve probably never heard an entire Bach Suite played on a Pete Howlett uke, nor the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's George Hinchliffe singing You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman. Such things still make me shiver with disbelief…”

Richard will perform solo on classical guitar, terz guitar and the ukulele. He is also thrilled to be back on stage again with his life-long friend singer-songwriter Rabs. The pair met at sixth form and hit it off immediately.

Richard said: “We busked around France and Italy after our A levels and have been mates ever since.”

Rabs said: “Our teacher at the time told us we had a new student joining our sixth-form who played the guitar. Richard rocked up and we just hit it off. Back in the day, in the early 80s we’d gig in and around Brighton. I have recently moved back to Brighton and as a teacher I have been pleased to welcome Richard in to do a spot for my students and it’s great to be performing with him at Ropetackle to return the favour. We are musically very compatible and I am looking forward to performing my song Life with Richard. It’s a life affirming track with a special meaning.”

For the concert Richard will be joined by Corin Buckeridge (keyboards), Stephen Hiscock (drums and percussion), Gareth Huw Davies (bass) aka The Burning Deck.

The Ropetacke Arts Centre, Shoreham by Sea 26th October 2023, 7.30pm. Tickets: £20, £5 for under 18s. Buy online at the Ropetackle website or call 01273 464440.