GUITARIST Richard Durrant isn't going to let a snapped tibia and torn ankle ligaments stop him performing in Derby.

"I went ice skating. I was doing better than anyone but someone fell over in front of me and bang..." he says.

"But I'm still gigging. Luckily I travel with my stage/technical manager. He has the burden of everything, really, and I hopefully get all the sympathy and double my CD sales."

Richard will be bringing his show The Guitar Whisperer to Derby. It's much more than a straight classical guitar recital, evolving into a multimedia show as it goes along.

"The heart of what I do is being a classical guitarist," says Richard. "I do posh gigs like playing concertos with the Royal Philharmonic and a lot of standard repertoire, the Spanish stuff, Bach and whatnot. But I used to do a request spot in my own show and I got asked to do weird things like Tubular Bells.

"I just gave in to it and now carry half the world in my trailer. I work with visual artists who supply me with beautiful backings to the pieces. I use little bits of live sampling that enable me to do Tubular Bells which I play on guitar ukelele and banjo. I recently picked up a piece of film that goes with a new arrangement I've done for Debussy's Arabesque.

"I haven't even seen it yet – I hope it's good."

Richard begins with well-known tunes such as Albeniz's Cordoba and Barrios's La Catedral.

Then the visual backdrops begin...

"The DVD carries some of the music, so what would be the second guitarist is me recorded on to the soundtrack," says Richard.

"So you get a big soundscape and you feel like the show's opened up. Two guitars sounds so beautiful and it feels legit because it's not like playing with a backing tape; I have worked hard to make it as beautiful as I can."

After the break we get Tubular Bells and it ends with Manuel de Falla's La Vide Breve, performed to animation inspired by the paintings of Goya.

"I try to create an infinite space full of possibilities that people sense when they first come in."

Richard studied both guitar and cello at the Royal College of Music but eventually stuck to the former.

"My mother loved the cello and I started playing when I was 12," he says. "But I was never much cop and I was one of six kids so my parents never had much money and my cello was always rubbish.

"I got far enough to experience being inside a symphony orchestra but I wouldn't subject an audience to me as a soloist."

Guitar though was always number one and Richard is in constant demand as a soloist.

He also runs LongMan Records from his Sussex home.

In the early 1990s Richard was part of classical super group Sky taking over from John Williams.

"(Bassist) Herbie Flowers is like my surrogate uncle," he says. "I met him on a radio show and he rang up the next day and asked if I wanted to do the Sky tour because John couldn't do it.

And do you know what? I put my leg down a drain and did all my ligaments. That was 17-18 years ago and I did the whole tour on crutches – just like now. God! My life has come full circle."

RICHARD DURRANT

WHERE: Derby Assembly Rooms – Darwin Suite.

WHEN: Saturday, March 27 (7.30pm).

TICKETS: £13 (concessions £11).

BOX OFFICE: 01332 255800.