Red Priest – recently described in the New York Times as ‘the wildly virtuosic little band’ – has been at the cutting edge of baroque music performance for over a quarter of a century.  The brainchild of recorder virtuoso Piers Adams and violinist Julia Bishop, and named after the original ‘red priest’ Antonio Vivaldi, the quartet has developed a truly unique style, combining high-energy performance, boundary crossing arrangements and theatrical presentation, delighting audiences across the globe – including over 50 tours of America and Canada, and performances in prestigious festivals in almost every European country, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Lebanon, Japan, China, Malaysia, Mexico, Cuba, Australia and New Zealand.   The group has given numerous radio and TV broadcasts, including a documentary for The South Bank Show which attracted a million viewers.   Red Priest’s discography includes an iconic take on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, hailed by Gramophone Magazine as one of the all-time best recordings of the work, and The Baroque Bohemians, which surprised the major labels by reaching No.1 in the UK classical charts.

Piers Adams has been heralded in the Washington Post as ‘the reigning recorder virtuoso in the world today’.   Although best known as the front man of Red Priest he has also had a thriving solo career, performing concertos with numerous international symphony and chamber orchestras and giving recitals in many different guises, alongside his regular appearances on TV and radio.  Born in 1963, he studied physics at university before entering the Guildhall School of Music, rapidly branching out from there to create his own unique voice, expanding the recorder’s repertoire to include every musical genre from renaissance to romantic to rock.   Amongst his recent ventures are his baroque ‘chillout’ album Bach Side of the Moon, which reached No. 5 in the international New Age Music charts, and the formation of Baroque Alchemy – a boundary-crossing duo with his keyboardist partner Lyndy Mayle, combining 18^th century music with 21^st century sound technology; the duo’s debut album Breaking Free was released earlier this year on Red Priest Recordings.  Alongside this he is currently working on creating a new, advanced online teaching programme called The Enlightened Recorder Player.

Julia Bishop discovered her love of early music during her studies at the Royal College of Music when she first heard the Baroque orchestra directed by Catherine Mackintosh and knew from then that she would make the Baroque violin her speciality.  Thirty-five years later Julia is recognised as one of the most colourful exponents of the instrument. She has toured the world extensively and made numerous recordings with all the period instrument orchestras in the UK including the London Classical Players, the Hanover Band, the Academy of Ancient Music, the English Concert, with whom she was a member for six years, and as leader and soloist with the Gabrieli Consort and Players for five years.  A founder member of Red Priest, Julia stepped back from touring in 2015 for family reasons, before returning to the ensemble last year. In her time away from the group she has become increasingly popular for her lively and informative teaching on workshops and courses around the UK and at the University of Chichester Conservatoire.

​
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 performed and recorded with some of the world’s leading musicians including Emma Kirkby, James Bowman, Tasmin Little, Joshua Bell and Julian Lloyd Webber, 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.  In addition to his work with Red Priest David is active as one of the UK’s busiest working harpsichordists performing with several of the country’s leading period instrument ensembles and chamber orchestras, as well as building, tuning and restoring harpsichords and chamber organs.