Cellist Matthew Barley is exchanging the usual concert stage for the dramatic backdrop at the South Foreland Lighthouse on Sunday.

The musician is helping to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Benjamin Britten and is performing twice at the National Trust’s clifftop landmark as part of Around Britten which includes a tour, new commissions and a CD. There will be at least 100 events across the UK to mark the 100 year celebrations.

One of the musician’s aims is to take Britten’s music to audiences who might not otherwise hear it in a kaleidoscope of venues throughout the country from cathedrals, concert halls and the South Foreland Lighthouse to a barn in Colchester and a cave in Derbyshire.

He said: “This tour combines many of the things I love – core repertoire, commissions, multi-media work, education, looking for new ways and places to present great music, and, of course, the extraordinary suites of Benjamin Britten."

* For full story see the East Kent Mercury, June 27.