In celebration of his fourth decade as an independent soloist, maverick guitarist and composer Richard Durrant presents his 2026 tour: The Art of Levitation.

He will perform an evening of guitar works including Bach, Scarlatti, Purcell, Renbourn, Jansch, Barrios and Durrant's own compositions including the tour title track, at The Flavel, Dartmouth on Thursday, May 7 at 7.30pm.

There will be his trademark stories about his childhood and musical career as he plays to the audience standing, thought to be the only classical guitarist to do so.

The Art of Levitation is both a celebration and a statement of live music, real spaces and a transformative experience.

This year Richard celebrates 40 years since graduating from the Royal College of Music and making his London debut at the Purcell Room.

Raised in a working-class family in Brighton, he struggled at school with undiagnosed autism and ADHD.

Yet alongside those challenges came an extraordinary early focus.

By his early teens he was composing prolifically, passing Grade 8 guitar, cello and theory at an unusually early age.

He led the cello section of the Brighton Youth Orchestra and, aged just 16, toured with them in Portugal as soloist in the Concierto de Aranjuez.

He had also started playing floor spots in local Folk Clubs and was double bassist in a busy bluegrass band.

His neurodiversity, which he now speaks about with candour, has shaped both his artistry and his independence. “ Music and the arts have helped me throughout my life,” Durrant says.

“I’ve learned to harness some essential balancing forces and have begun to understand why music exists.”

For audiences and for young musicians navigating similar challenges — his particular journey offers proof that difference can become a source of originality and resilience.

Richard is looking forward to a return to Dartmouth.

He said: “I first played at The Flavel in 2010 at the end of a long tour - before the concert I picked up my wife and very young children from Brixham Station.

“They’d caught the train down to see the gig so we could spend time together.

“It was during a heatwave, Dartmouth looked beautiful, a big crowd turned up at the gig and it was the start of a weekend I will never forget.

“I love the place.”

Durrant has built a sustainable creative life not by fitting in, but by leaning into his own way of thinking and working. In more recent years he has cycled around 9,000 miles between concerts around the British Isles showing his determination to reduce his carbon footprint (at one point averaging 35,000 miles per year) and highlight climate change - he often appears onstage next to his bicycle and trailer.

The Art of Levitation tour reflects the full span of Durrant’s musical life from prize winning student at the Royal College of Music to a folk music obsessed misfit whose Mum rang up the SouthBank Centre from the care home where she worked to organise his debut gig. The concerts will be played on a guitar made from a 5,000-year-old English bog oak.