Red Priest is a British Baroque instrumental group that was formed in 1997, originally with eleven members. Currently it is composed of four performers: Piers Adams - recorder, Julia Bishop - violin, Angela East - cello and David Wright - harpsichord. In America and the Far East the group collaborates with the Canadian baroque/Cape-Breton violinist David Greenberg in place of Julia Bishop. The group is named after the red-haired Italian priest and Baroque composer, Antonio Vivaldi.
The quartet plays in a flamboyant, theatrical and virtuosic style making use of props, costumes, dramatic lighting and other effects. The pieces they perform are generally their own arrangements, though based very closely on the original music by Vivaldi, Bach, et al.
In addition to touring all over the world, Red Priest are a frequent guest on BBC Radio 3's In Tune programme. They have released several albums, including a contemporary take on Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, as well as an album of the programme for their 2009 concert tour: Pirates of the Baroque.
Famous quotes containing the words red and/or priest:
““The god has not yet answered to our pity
For the black vision and tangle in her brains,
Nor is there knowing soever in the city
Of the red histories that throbbed in her blue veins.””
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“In my dreams is a country where the State is the Church and the Church the people: three in one and one in three. It is a commonwealth in which work is play and play is life: three in one and one in three. It is a temple in which the priest is the worshiper and the worshiper the worshipped: three in one and one in three. It is a godhead in which all life is human and all humanity divine: three in one and one in three.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)