THE 'Rolling Stones' of early music are returning to North Wales to perform at an international music festival.
Red Priest, named after flame-haired priest Antonio Vivaldi, wowed the audience at St Asaph Cathedral four years ago and the quartet are looking forward to returning to the North Wales International Music Festival in the autumn.
The concert, on Friday, September 23, is part of an exciting and varied programme at this year's festival which is celebrating its 50th anniversary and runs from September 17 to October 1.
Among the other highlights are performances by Welsh folk favourites Calan, the spectacular Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, along with resident orchestra NEW Sinfonia.
The extraordinary acoustic Red Priest foursome has been described by music critics as 'visionary and heretical', 'outrageous yet compulsive', 'wholly irreverent and highly enlightened', with a 'red-hot wicked sense of humour' and a 'break-all-rules, rock-chamber concert approach to early music'.
MORE: Calan intend to 'raise the roof' at St Asaph Cathedral!
According to founder member Piers Adams, the word baroque means many different things.
He said: "Irregular, strange, bizarre, florid, over-the-top, extravagant... words that sum up one of the most extraordinary periods in the history of music. This was a time when musical rules were cast out of the window in favour of constant change and invention, leading one well known theorist at the time to state "rules are what I like, and when I like it!
“It is in this spirit that we try to reach to the true, and occasionally mad, heart of the baroque."
The festival’s artistic director, Ann Atkinson, said it was part of the festival's goals to bring all forms of music to the festival in St Asaph Cathedral.
She said: "Red Priest have been variously described as the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers, Spike Jones and the Cirque du Soleil of baroque music but they are brilliant musicians who are experts at what they do."
Piers, who plays the recorder, said: "St Asaph Cathedral is a lovely place to play, really light and airy and a good size not like a huge cathedral so it’s a perfect size for us.
“Traditionally Baroque music works well in churches, where it would most commonly have been played in its day. With the reflective stone surfaces, especially in somewhere the size of St Asaph, it sounds perfect."
The group, formed in 1997, features Piers alongside Adam Summerhayes on violin, Angela East on cello and David Wright on harpsichord.
More details about the festival can be found at www.nwimf.com and tickets are also available from Cathedral Frames, St Asaph on 01745 582929 (Wednesday to Friday, 10am-4.30pm) or Theatr Clwyd by phone only on 01352 344101 (Monday to Saturday, 10am-6pm).
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