Everyone will be welcome to the concert, a free event (with a retiring collection).

“This is a great opportunity to hear a concert featuring music you may not have heard before. There’s no charge and we look forward to seeing people of all ages - we hope people will grasp the chance of giving something new a try,” said Jeremy Tomlinson, Chairman of the Friends. 

“While the event is free of charge, we will also be taking donations in support of an important project to enhance facilities at the Church for the benefit of the local community.” 

The music Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata will be the main piece, played by Dan Shilladay, the Co-Principal Viola from West Sussex’s Hanover Band. He will be accompanied by Brian Sawyer, the music director at Steyning Parish Church on piano.

This sonata remains the only substantial composition still played today which was originally written for the arpeggione. It was essentially a six-stringed, bowed guitar, invented around 200 years ago. The concert will also feature Morpheus, a piece noted for its ethereal and otherworldly harmonies, representing the Greek god, Morpheus, who was associated with sleep and dreams.

It was composed by Rebecca Clarke in 1917 and will also be played by Dan on viola, accompanied by Brian. The better-known Bach’s Suite No. 4 in E-flat major, BVW1010, will also be performed by Dan on viola.

The musicians: Dan Shilladay is a London-based freelance musician and Co-Principal Viola at the Arundel-based Hanover Band which specialises in music from the Hanoverian period. He has also played with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Britten Sinfonia and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. With Southbank Sinfonia he has taken part in acclaimed productions at the National Theatre of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and Amadeus.

Brian Sawyer is the popular, award-winning organist of Steyning Parish Church. He has been an organ soloist with The City of Southampton Orchestra, The Horsham Symphony Orchestra and has given organ recitals in Chichester and Arundel Cathedrals among others. He has been the Organist and Director of Music at Steyning Church since 1993.

Tickets Tickets are available free from the Festival website and the concert starts at 4.30 (not 5 pm as appears from the printed programme) to allow people to get to Polly Toynbee’s talk which begins at 6 pm.

There will be a retiring collection for the Friends of Steyning Parish Church in support of the project to improve the facilities of the Church for the benefit of the community.