Red Priest - Biography
‘Astonishing all-out virtuosity’ New York Times
Red Priest is the only early music group in the world to have been compared in the press to the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers, Spike Jones and the Cirque du Soleil. This extraordinary acoustic foursome has been described by music critics as “visionary and heretical,” “outrageous yet compulsive,” “wholly irreverent and highly enlightened,” “completely wild and deeply imaginative,” with a “red-hot wicked sense of humour” and a “break-all-rules, rock-chamber concert approach to early music.”
Founded in 1997, and named after the red-headed priest, Antonio Vivaldi, Red Priest has given over 1000 sell-out concerts in many of the world’s most prestigious festivals, including the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Moscow December Nights Festival, Schwetzingen Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Ravinia Festival, Bermuda Festival, and in most European countries, Japan, Australia, and throughout North and Central America. The group has been the subject of hour-long TV profiles for NHK (Japan) and ITV (UK) - the latter for the prestigious South Bank Show in 2005.
In 2008 Red Priest launched its own record label, which is now the home for all of the recordings of the ensemble and its members, and has attracted much attention in the music press worldwide. Gramophone said of the group’s ‘Handel in the Wind’ CD ‘Quite brilliant… some of the most extraordinary instrumental playing you’re likely to hear’, whilst their iconic recording of Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ was hailed in the same publication as one of the four all-time best recordings of the work. Other releases have included a swashbuckling collection entitled ‘Pirates of the Baroque’, the group’s all-Bach blockbuster, ‘Johann, I'm Only Dancing’ and the latest CD ‘The Baroque Bohemians’, which reached No.1 in the UK Specialist Classical Chart in October 2017.
Piers Adams has been heralded in the Washington Post as ‘the reigning recorder virtuoso in the world today’. He has performed in premiere concert halls throughout the world, including London’s Royal Festival, Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls, and as concerto soloist with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Singapore Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and the BBC Symphony and Concert orchestras. Piers has made several solo CDs reflecting an eclectic taste, ranging from his award-winning Vivaldi début disc to David Bedford’s Recorder Concerto - one of many major works written for and premiered by him. Current projects include ‘Wild Men of the Baroque’ with Red Priest harpsichordist David Wright, an eclectic mix of classical, world, jazz and folk music with pianist Howard Beach entitled ‘Flight of the Eagle’, regular festival gigs with Adam Summerhayes’ ‘Dodo Street Band’, and an innovative baroque chill-out recording with synth artist Larry Lush, entitled ‘Baroque Dream’.
Adam Summerhayes's grandfather studied the violin with Joachim's last pupil and with Adolf Brodsky, the violinist who premiered the Tchaikovsky concerto. He learnt first from him and then from the great Yfrah Neaman. He was introduced to the Baroque violin by Roy Goodman in the 1980s, initiated into period instrument performance by Paul McCreesh and studied with Micaela Comberti. He has been highly acclaimed as a chamber musician, particularly for his recordings of previously unknown repertoire, including works by Aaron Copland. He has also given many concerto performances in Europe, Russia and the USA. Adam has recorded over 20 CDs for Harmonia Mundi, Chandos, ASV, Meridian and others. A disc of his gypsy fiddle playing, was described as "heady stuff … thrilling virtuoso playing" (Gramophone). This lead to a cameo appearance in Guy Ritchie's blockbuster movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in which a performance of one of his own tracks is also featured. In addition to his work with Red Priest, Adam runs his own orchestra, and is founder and director of the Dodo Street Band, described as the 'last word in Celtic Gypsy Klezmer'.
Angela East is widely respected as one of the most brilliant and dynamic performers in the period instrument world, praised in The Times, London, for the “elemental power” of her cello playing. She has given numerous concerto performances in London's Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls, and has performed as soloist and continuo cellist with many of Europe's leading baroque orchestras, as well as with her own ensemble, the Revolutionary Drawing Room. Among her impressive list of concert credits are La Scala, Milan, Sydney Opera House, Versailles and Glyndebourne. Her disc of Bach’s Cello Suites was released on Red Priest Recordings, together with a recital disc of popular baroque cello sonatas. Angela is very active as an educator, running workshops and training courses at home and abroad for the Suzuki Institute, as well as running her own Alexander Technique practise from her London home.
David Wright was an almost entirely self-taught musician before gaining a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he won several prizes, including the International Broadwood Competition, and graduated with distinction. Since then he has worked with some of the world’s leading musicians including Emma Kirkby, James Bowman and Steven Varcoe, and as a soloist with many groups of international renown. He has directed numerous concerts from the harpsichord, including the first modern performance of Arne's The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, and is guest conductor to several European orchestras. Much of David's time in recent years has been devoted to performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which he recorded in 2007 and has since toured extensively, and performed on TV and radio. He joined Red Priest in 2011, taking over from his predecessor in a Dr. Who style regeneration event in Brighton Early Music Festival in 2010. Since that moment his life has slowly but surely started to unravel.
Red Priest is the only early music group in the world to have been compared in the press to the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers, Spike Jones and the Cirque du Soleil. This extraordinary acoustic foursome has been described by music critics as “visionary and heretical,” “outrageous yet compulsive,” “wholly irreverent and highly enlightened,” “completely wild and deeply imaginative,” with a “red-hot wicked sense of humour” and a “break-all-rules, rock-chamber concert approach to early music.”
Founded in 1997, and named after the red-headed priest, Antonio Vivaldi, Red Priest has given over 1000 sell-out concerts in many of the world’s most prestigious festivals, including the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Moscow December Nights Festival, Schwetzingen Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Ravinia Festival, Bermuda Festival, and in most European countries, Japan, Australia, and throughout North and Central America. The group has been the subject of hour-long TV profiles for NHK (Japan) and ITV (UK) - the latter for the prestigious South Bank Show in 2005.
In 2008 Red Priest launched its own record label, which is now the home for all of the recordings of the ensemble and its members, and has attracted much attention in the music press worldwide. Gramophone said of the group’s ‘Handel in the Wind’ CD ‘Quite brilliant… some of the most extraordinary instrumental playing you’re likely to hear’, whilst their iconic recording of Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ was hailed in the same publication as one of the four all-time best recordings of the work. Other releases have included a swashbuckling collection entitled ‘Pirates of the Baroque’, the group’s all-Bach blockbuster, ‘Johann, I'm Only Dancing’ and the latest CD ‘The Baroque Bohemians’, which reached No.1 in the UK Specialist Classical Chart in October 2017.
Piers Adams has been heralded in the Washington Post as ‘the reigning recorder virtuoso in the world today’. He has performed in premiere concert halls throughout the world, including London’s Royal Festival, Wigmore and Queen Elizabeth Halls, and as concerto soloist with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Singapore Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong and the BBC Symphony and Concert orchestras. Piers has made several solo CDs reflecting an eclectic taste, ranging from his award-winning Vivaldi début disc to David Bedford’s Recorder Concerto - one of many major works written for and premiered by him. Current projects include ‘Wild Men of the Baroque’ with Red Priest harpsichordist David Wright, an eclectic mix of classical, world, jazz and folk music with pianist Howard Beach entitled ‘Flight of the Eagle’, regular festival gigs with Adam Summerhayes’ ‘Dodo Street Band’, and an innovative baroque chill-out recording with synth artist Larry Lush, entitled ‘Baroque Dream’.
Adam Summerhayes's grandfather studied the violin with Joachim's last pupil and with Adolf Brodsky, the violinist who premiered the Tchaikovsky concerto. He learnt first from him and then from the great Yfrah Neaman. He was introduced to the Baroque violin by Roy Goodman in the 1980s, initiated into period instrument performance by Paul McCreesh and studied with Micaela Comberti. He has been highly acclaimed as a chamber musician, particularly for his recordings of previously unknown repertoire, including works by Aaron Copland. He has also given many concerto performances in Europe, Russia and the USA. Adam has recorded over 20 CDs for Harmonia Mundi, Chandos, ASV, Meridian and others. A disc of his gypsy fiddle playing, was described as "heady stuff … thrilling virtuoso playing" (Gramophone). This lead to a cameo appearance in Guy Ritchie's blockbuster movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in which a performance of one of his own tracks is also featured. In addition to his work with Red Priest, Adam runs his own orchestra, and is founder and director of the Dodo Street Band, described as the 'last word in Celtic Gypsy Klezmer'.
Angela East is widely respected as one of the most brilliant and dynamic performers in the period instrument world, praised in The Times, London, for the “elemental power” of her cello playing. She has given numerous concerto performances in London's Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls, and has performed as soloist and continuo cellist with many of Europe's leading baroque orchestras, as well as with her own ensemble, the Revolutionary Drawing Room. Among her impressive list of concert credits are La Scala, Milan, Sydney Opera House, Versailles and Glyndebourne. Her disc of Bach’s Cello Suites was released on Red Priest Recordings, together with a recital disc of popular baroque cello sonatas. Angela is very active as an educator, running workshops and training courses at home and abroad for the Suzuki Institute, as well as running her own Alexander Technique practise from her London home.
David Wright was an almost entirely self-taught musician before gaining a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he won several prizes, including the International Broadwood Competition, and graduated with distinction. Since then he has worked with some of the world’s leading musicians including Emma Kirkby, James Bowman and Steven Varcoe, and as a soloist with many groups of international renown. He has directed numerous concerts from the harpsichord, including the first modern performance of Arne's The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, and is guest conductor to several European orchestras. Much of David's time in recent years has been devoted to performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which he recorded in 2007 and has since toured extensively, and performed on TV and radio. He joined Red Priest in 2011, taking over from his predecessor in a Dr. Who style regeneration event in Brighton Early Music Festival in 2010. Since that moment his life has slowly but surely started to unravel.
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