Wild Men of the Baroque - Biography

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PIERS ADAMS – RECORDERS
DAVID WRIGHT – HARPSICHORD

Piers Adams is the modern day wild man of the recorder.   His stubborn refusal to accept the natural limitations of his instrument has led the Washington Post to describe him as ‘superhuman’, and International Record Review to declare: ‘The things Adams does with his recorders defy the imagination.’   Born in 1963 he trained initially as a physicist before joining the tail end of the Dutch recorder movement of the 1970s and 80s, rapidly branching out from there to create his own, unique sound and stage personality.  Innovations in recorder design – most recently the ‘Eagle Recorder’ featured widely on this album – have enabled Adams to expand the instrument’s repertoire to include every musical genre from renaissance to romantic to rock, and to astonish audiences with its expressive possibilities.   His concert tours have taken him to all corners of the globe, performing over 1000 concerts with his iconic baroque quartet Red Priest, as well as recitals and concertos with international symphony and chamber orchestras, and numerous TV and radio appearances.  

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David Wright has spent many years trying to shed his reputation as the hard man of the harpsichord, having come to the instrument as a refuge from his East End gangland upbringing.  The final spur to pursue a career in music came in 1994 when, as a 17-year old, he found himself facing a sawn-off shotgun at close range in an underground car-park.   Since that time he has reinvented himself as something of an 18th century fop and lothario, thanks to several years of study in sundry London music colleges (he was previously self taught) and a penchant for baroque beauty and morals.   With his harpsichord he has toured throughout Europe, America and the Far East, sharing the stage with such Early Music luminaries as Emma Kirkby and James Bowman, performing concertos, directing orchestras and operas (including the first modern day performance of Arne's The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green), and championing the instrument’s solo repertoire – in particular Bach’s Goldberg Variations.  His unconventional background and unsurpassable technique made him a natural to join Red Priest, with whom he has toured and recorded since 2011.

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