Red Priest: "A Baroque Extravaganza"

Johann Sebastian Bach: Preludio
Giovanni Paolo Cima: Sonata a Tre
Henry Purcell, Maurizio Cazzatti, Diego Ortiz: A Suite of Grounds
Georg Friedrich Handel: Flute Sonata in B minor
Georg Philipp Telemann:
Fantasia for Violin
Sonata in A minor "Gypsy"
Antonio Vivaldi: "The Four Seasons" (arr. Red Priest)

// Piers Adams (recorders)
// Julia Bishop (violin)
// Angela East (cello)
// David Wright (harpsichord)

The British baroque quartet Red Priest - hailed by the New York Times as "the wildly virtuosic little band" - brings a thrilling programme of 17th- and 18th-century masterworks in their unmistakable, high-octane style.

The centrepiece of the evening is their own arrangement of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons", which Early Music Magazine described as: "passionate but criminal, drunk and unbridled, manic and demonic, outrageous yet irresistible... This stuff is cheaper than cocaine but probably shouldn't be legal!" Even the normally conservative Gramophone Magazine placed the recording among the four greatest interpretations of the work ever made, declaring: "This blend of virtuosity and chaos is unmatched. These are the Four Seasons as you have never heard them before."

Red Priest has been captivating audiences for over 25 years. Named after the "red-haired priest" Antonio Vivaldi, the ensemble pairs breathtaking virtuosity with electrifying stage presence, making them one of the great success stories of the international early-music world.

"Extends the very limits of virtuosity ... for sheer imagination it's unbeatable" (BBC Music Magazine)