CONCERT REVIEWS

"The wildly virtuosic little band"
NEW YORK TIMES
 

"Early music groups can be out there when it comes to vitality and less conventional presentation, but I've seen nothing as theatrically charismatic as Red Priest gave us on Saturday night…. The virtuosity of all four players was nothing short of jaw-dropping, and their style of dress, general visual presentation and engagingly humorous commentary was very refreshing."
THE PRESS, CHRISTCHURCH NZ 

"They are wacky musicians who just happen to be virtuoso practitioners on their instruments... The most revealing thing about the Red Priest approach is, even with sneaky references to modern musicians, just how baroque it all sounds, and, in a way, this outrageously free approach may just be more authentic than the more grimly 'true' approach of many an authentic instrument group.”
DOMINION POST, WELLINGTON, NZ

"Red Priest is like no other early music instrumental ensemble you have ever heard... bringing glee to the concert scene for a decade or more... transforming Baroque clichés into vivid drama, often at terrific speed and with practised coordination.... [with] a bedrock of tremendous skill and timing.”
DAILY TELEGRAPH 

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"Highly individual… Purists would probably run a mile from what Red Priest does to this music, but virtuosity, verve and creative spontaneity are fused together in a way that makes the impact positively volcanic”
DAILY TELEGRAPH 

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“The playing is indeed red-hot virtuosic …the adaptation of The Four Seasons- involving swirling snowstorms, thunderclaps and the mime of an entire stag hunt – is way over the top, but one has a sneaking suspicion that Vivaldi might have approved.
THE TIMES 

"The original Red Priest should be dancing in his grave!"
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 

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"Putting the rock into baroque... Energetic spectacular stage show... Invigorating versions of familiar Vivaldi pieces... The difference is clear: Red Priest have much more fun!"
THE EVENING STANDARD 

"BAROQUE STARS... an unorthodox quartet of virtuoso musicians on a mission to make classical music a visual as well as aural experience... supreme musicians."
THE OBSERVER 

"Not so much reconstruction as total re-interpretation…they are sure to introduce a new audience to baroque music."
EARLY MUSIC TODAY

"From the country that spawned Mick Jagger, these players add another level of adventure to their concerts... After Red Priest, you'll never again hear Baroque music in quite the same way."
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL 

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"If the Rolling Stones played recorder, violin, cello and harpsichord and their genre was 17th-century music, they would be the band called Red Priest"
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE 

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"The dynamic early music group Red Priest, drew an absolutely packed house... The concert began 15 minutes late so the large crowd could be seated. There was a buzz in the Old Arts Building that is rare at most concerts, let alone chamber music events. Red Priest did far more than just play good old music well. They put on a show that awed with the breadth of musicality the four musicians displayed."
EDMONTON JOURNAL (Canada) 

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"Stunning virtuosity and flamboyant stagecraft."
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE REVIEW 

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"Red Priest has carved out a unique niche in the early music world with its break-all-rules, rock concert-chamber concert approach to early music performance and with the dazzling technical prowess of recorder player Piers Adams."
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

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"The performance by British period instrument quartet Red Priest of "The Four Seasons" at Dumbarton Church on Saturday didn't so much breathe new life into Vivaldi as plunge an adrenaline-filled syringe into his heart…What made this zaniness work, was the players' virtuosity and thorough understanding of the baroque idiom"
WASHINGTON POST 

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"There's absolutely nothing ordinary about the early music ensemble Red Priest, from its quirky costumes and innovative musical arrangements to its zany sense of humor and amazing virtuoso skills. In fact Red Priest is one of the most extraordinary ensembles on today's chamber music scene…"
VIRGINIA GAZETTE 

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"Whatever stuffiness remained in the once-stodgy field of early music blew out the windows of Synod Hall on Saturday. Taking its place was the uproarious conduct of Red Priest, an English foursome that appears to have discovered music's fountain of youth... Even though Red Priest gave a new arrangement of "Seasons," the performance seemed more authentic than one by an orchestra, modern or period. And that is simply amazing. Any group that can make you rethink a masterpiece and also make it fun is rare indeed."
PITTSBURG POST-GAZETTE 

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“Antonio Vivaldi met the musical Marx Brothers… an engaging mixture of facetiousness and artistry… staggering virtuosity… a real joy.”
PITTSBURG TRIBUNE REVIEW Sept 2002

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"For people who "appreciate" classical music but have a little secret -- it bores them -- the answer is Red Priest. The four flamboyantly dressed British musicians mug, throw funny lines at us and make us laugh. But something important is going on, and it happens fast… the process is effortless, a barrel of fun and almost invisibly subtle… immaculately forged and cunningly phrased…legitimately baroque and thoroughly musical. An electrified audience shouted and cheered."
WASHINGTON POST Feb 2001

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"A high-energy baroque hoe-down… [Red Priest's] performing style comes from pop-infused acts such as Kronos Quartet or the violinist Kennedy… unfettered interaction and spontaneity… a wide-ranging, unhackneyed programme… deliciously twisted, vividly interpreted and played with dash and precision."
LOS ANGELES TIMES 

"Nothing short of electrifying… combined a supremely accomplished level of musicianship with an almost superhuman energy and a sense of showmanship in a concert that will stand as one of the season's best… Purists might cringe at some of the liberties this ensemble takes, but it is hard to argue with the sheer verve and daring musicality it delivered."
DENVER POST 

"Without a doubt, Red Priest has redefined the art of baroque music performance... it is really the virtuoso style of these four musicians that makes the entire performance meld into such a satisfying whole... the true magic of Red Priest is that they create music that will likely appeal to anyone with an ear for music. In these times, that is no small feat."
THE EASTENER

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"In brief: Wow!… Red Priest has not simply jumped onto a rolling bandwagon. They've taken off the wagon's wooden wheels and replaced them with Michelin radials."
DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE 

"Different from all others, in almost every way imaginable…They had fun, they played their hearts out and brought the venerated era to bawdy, brilliant life."
NEWS JOURNAL FLORIDA Feb 2000

 

 

 

CD REVIEWS

“For sheer technical wizardry, charismatic showmanship and expressive devilment, Red Priest is in a exhilarating class of it’s own” 
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 

"Quite brilliant... some of the most extraordinary instrumental playing you're likely to hear" 
GRAMOPHONE 

“72 minutes of pure listening pleasure” 
WDR Germany 

"Admirers of this life-enhancing quartet can confidently acquire Red Priest’s latest disc..." 
MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

'It’s pretty difficult to imagine anyone in Bach’s time or our own managing to pull off quite such a coup of collective virtuosity and unashamed display as does Red Priest, a singularly skilled foursome' 
INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW  

' a fun-packed Bach-fest from Red Priest that's sure to raise a smile... ' 
GRAMOPHONE 

‘if you think baroque music is dull you should listen to one of my favourite baroque ensembles, Red Priest, putting rock back into baroque.... these are captivating arrangements by cracking good classical musicians.’ 
DAVID MELLOR, CLASSIC FM, THE NEW CD SHOW 

‘I am sure many will enjoy this audacious display of virtuosity from Piers Adams....from the inventiveness of the transcription of the famous organ Toccata and Fugue in D minor to the more straightforward arrangements of excerpts from flute and oboe sonatas.’ 
THE STRAD 

‘Fun with JS Bach but not at the expense of his music … deserves to be a runaway success...’ 
MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL 

‘Each of these artists is a sterling instrumentalist, palying at the top of his or her game – virtuosity personidified. Adams’ recorder is quite phenomenal – I am amazed at what he accomplishes on it.’ 
AUDIOPHILE

"An amazing disc... an extraordinary performance from one of the most exhilarating groups I’ve encountered in many a long year." 
DAVID MELLOR on CLASSIC FM - THE NEW CD SHOW 

"Anyone yet to encounter Red Priest should be alerted to their performances coming with a health warning. Purists might blanch at what they do with music of the Baroque, but the rest of us can revel in their exuberance, irreverence and dazzling virtuosity." 
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH Classical CD of the Week **** 
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"I love this swashbuckling CD... Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum to RedPriest!" 
CLASSIC FM MAGAZINE August 2009 Presenter's Choice 

"Ferociously enjoyable.... Superb musicians lie behind their affectionate stylistic tricks ... I loved it all." 
THE TIMES  
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"Spectacular virtuosity and mischievous wit... Red Priest go outrageously over the top but return from the other side with previously unimagined delights.... a splendidly irreverent antidote to music under a glass case." 
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 
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"Unique and exhilarating... These people are really hot because, at their root, they are outstanding, serious musicians." 
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY 
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"Staggeringly virtuosic, consummately musical and outrageously exuberant.." 
THE GLASGOW HERALD 
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"Red Priest have developed a unique approach to delivering the pearls and jewels of the music of that era... I swear I could hear seagulls and feel the waves vibrate against the shore.... they are a tour de force.   Ahoy, me hearties, this is pirate treasure indeed!" 
MUSICAL OPINION 

"A cheeky, jaw-dropping, sensitive and virtuosic pan-stylistic meta-display...  For all the dynamics variations and theatrical devices, the seismic shifts of the articulation, ricocheting and vitalising, these are at heart four sensitive, technically highly accomplished musicians. They couldn’t play with such pinpoint verve if they weren’t.... Catch them in concert and on disc too; there’s no one quite like them " 
MUSIC WEB 

"Red Priest is a group of very intelligent period instrument specialists with a red-hot wicked sense of humor... who irreverently and intelligently deconstruct these war horses and provide the listener an experience as fresh as a spring strawberry bursting on the roof of your mouth... A splendid baroque gift that will be praised as visionary and heretical in the same breath." 
ALL ABOUT JAZZ 
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"This is a performance that the major labels have been striving to achieve (and failing miserably to accomplish): attempting to cross the classics with modern sensibilities. Red Priest plays this music with a sense of verve and élan, and, in the process, has created a true crossover recording." 
SOUNDSTAGE 
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"If you think you know the Seasons, if you’ve heard it (or played it) far too often to ever want to hear it again – go straight out and buy this recording. Red Priest’s performance on this disc is passionate but criminal, drunken and disorderly, manic and demonic, outrageous yet compulsive…. This stuff is cheaper than cocaine, but there’s no way it should be legal." 
EARLY MUSIC TODAY 
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"Sensational ... Completely wild and deeply imaginative, the album marries the work to the spirit of baroque spectacle and Venetian skulduggery." 
MUSIC WEEK  

"Startlingly fertile imagination ... enormously entertaining while genuinely capable of saying something about the music... Red Priest are having fun with these old favorites, but it is unpretentious fun, and, most importantly, it is dished up by people who know how this music works, and whose affection for the subject of their witty and anarchic fooling is never in doubt." 
GRAMOPHONE 
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"Extends the very limits of virtuosity ... for sheer imagination it's unbeatable" 
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE 
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"This new version of The Four Seasons will certainly open your mind ... like it or loathe it (I'm firmly of the former camp, I'm slightly embarrased to say!), it's all great fun." 
EARLY MUSIC REVIEW 
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A wholly irreverent and highly enlightened approach to the piece we all love to hate ... Red Priest puts the viva in Vivaldi." 
STRINGS MAGAZINE February 2004 
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"You gotta hear this... It's a depraved taste. But I do think it a highly creative curiosity and a must-have... no-one else has quite done this with the much-abused Four Seasons." 
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE J
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"Red Priest, the notorious British quartet of wags and mischief-makers, the Spike Joneses of the Baroque ... consists of serious musicians who perform with great skill ... Parts of it are quite lovely, other parts completely exciting. This is an album that rises above its qualities of novelty." 
GO MEMPHIS 
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"Engaging, vexing and exciting ... Their performance is less a Monet than a Jackson Pollock ... as ever with Red Priest one is, rather like going down to the woods, in for a big surprise." 
MUSIC WEB 
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