Bach and Villa Lobos

Produced by Justine Peberdy and Kate Caddy and supported by Dartington Arts

A concert sponsored by Kate Caddy in aid of Rowcroft Hospice and Torbay Hospital's Oncology Patients' Fund

A programme featuring Brandenburgs, 8 cellos and Brazilian spice! This concert brings together some of the finest professionals around, with Divertimento Ensemble, playing on period instruments, joined by leading viola da gamba players, Alison Crum and Roy Marks. Barbara Degener plays Bach's sublime Suite No. 3 for unaccompanied cello and Catherine Hamilton, a sparkling soprano with a superlative touch, sings the once-heard never-forgotten solo which soars wordlessly and sumptuously above an orchestra of 8 cellos in Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5.

This year marks 333 years since the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the greatest geniuses of western music, whose influence has been continually felt over the centuries since his death. Among the many 20th-century composers who venerated Bach and incorporated his influences in their music was the Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos, whose nine Bachianas Brasilieras of 1930-45 were inspired by Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and so make an ideal pairing in this concert, Villa-Lobos designed his works as deliberately contemporary homages in the 'spirit of Bach', reworking native Brazilian folk sources. Villa-Lobos saw the fact that he was able to carry out such a surprising cultural transference as a tribute to Bach's universality, and to the fact that Bach's music is "deeply rooted in the folk music of every country in the world".

More than just a concert, the medieval Great Hall at Dartington will be set out in an intimate and informal layout and audience members will be invited to bring their drinks from the White Hart Bar. Totnes florists Blue Geranium will bedeck the Hall with seasonal blooms and canapes will be served afterwards.