On his bike to deliver Bach on a banjo and a ukulele

He will be performing at St Mary's & Peter’s Church, Wilmington on Saturday, June 21 and Brighton Open Air Theatre on Sunday, June 22, having already cycled over 500 miles this summer to start his tour in Shropshire and Herefordshire.

Spokeswoman Laura Raymond said: “Since 2014 Richard has pedalled thousands of miles throughout the British Isles but the musician’s intriguingly unpretentious style of delivery should not belie the emotional depth of his playing and his status as one of the world’s most inventive, virtuoso guitarists.

“Richard’s summer tour coincides with the release of his all-Bach album Four Strung Bach Technique. Richard has chosen a play on words from the 1970s Audi TV commercial, Vorsprung durch Technik despite maintaining his green credentials.

“The album contains ground-breaking recordings of two of Bach’s much loved cello suites: No.1 played on tenor banjo and No 3 on tenor ukulele. Richard studied the cello alongside guitar and composition at the Royal College of Music lending an interestingly authentic angle to these stunning new interpretations which challenge the usual associations of the banjo and ukulele. It is with deceptive ease that Richard invents a whole new sound world that is bright, crisp and beautiful. Extracts from the new album will be included in the summer concerts.

“The gig will include music from the High Baroque, the English Baroque and, most unusually, the English Folk Baroque with tributes to Pentangle’s John Renbourn and the wondrous guitar playing of Martin Carthy. Richard’s grasp of these different styles and genres is quite simply unmatched; add to that his own compositions including a hypnotic new solo The Art of Levitation as well as old favourites The Twitten and The Walrus Tree and this becomes a significant event for both acoustic and classical guitar lovers.”

On Friday, July 18 he plays a hometown gig at Shoreham’s Ropetackle Arts Centre.