THE aim of Blackdowns Early Music Projects (BEMP) co-founders Catherine and Geoffrey Bass has been to bring rarely heard early music to audiences in the South-West.

Much of the repertoire they have promoted since 2004 has been written by composers who were very well known in their own time but whose work has been hidden from view for reasons of war, politics or even natural disasters such as earthquakes and flood. Some of it has simply lain un-noticed in collections and libraries all over Europe.

BEMP will present an aspect of the development of baroque music in Germany in a harpsichord recital in the Church of St John the Baptist, Wellington, on Sunday, August 27, at 6.15pm with a programme entitled Preludes, Partitas and Grounds.

The celebrated harpsichordist and director Steven Devine will play works by Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Froberger and others, finishing with the exuberant Toccata in D Major BWV 912 by JS Bach.

Steven has performed all over the world as a harpsichord soloist – his recent Chandos recording of the Goldberg Variations was described by Gramophone Magazine as ‘one of the best’.

Steven will also give a world premiere performance in the presence of the composer Peter McCarthy of ‘Flats’, a piece composed for Steven earlier this year.

Tickets priced £10 are available from Wellington Visitor Centre, from www.blackdownsearlymusic.co.uk and on the door.