Musical tales from France

Richard Durrant has been enjoying a busy time leading up to the summer holidays…

The first part of July was spent in France and Richard’s first stop was to perform his final Midsummer Concert in the beautiful Eglise Saint Chartier de Javarzay as part of the Chef- Boutonne town festival.

“This was my debut concert in Nouvelle Aquatainne. It was in the mid thirties which suited me fine; there is something charismatic about such intense heat and it added more layers to the music I was playing.

“The acoustic in the church also gave me a lot to play with so I was a happy boy, especially during the 3rd Cello Suite on the Howlett super tenor ukulele which definitely caused a great deal of surprise but went down a storm,” said Richard.

And look who came to the gig – Richard’s old mate George Hinchliffe from the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. George happened to be on his hols and saw a poster!

Richard & Louise then headed further south towards Bordeaux for the July French Guitar Adventurers holiday.

Five happy days were spent in a lovely cool barn by a field of sunflowers preparing for the end of holiday concert in the ancient church in Yviers.

The gig was the best yet and the very local, French audience continues to grow.

“It is lovely that the locals have taken our antics to heart and turn out in force to see what we’re up to,” said Richard.

Richard is running another French Guitar Adventurer from 16 to 22 September and there are a few spaces remaining. Next year’s dates have been announced and are already filling up – click on button below to see the diary.

Below is one of the pieces performed at this July’s French Guitar Adventurers holiday

Happy summer holidays!