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The term "baroque," when it comes to music, describes a certain time period and certain composers. But the music group Red Priest doesn't just perform baroque music. It embraces every aspect of the baroque: ornamentation, elaborate embellishment—and sometimes a little bit of ostentation—in all things.
Red Priest is known for bold, imaginative performances, so it's probably not insignificant that in notes for its program, "Baroque Fantasy," the eccentric early-music group points out that the word "baroque" originally meant "bizarre." Undoubtedly, South Bay audiences will be in for a unique treat when this quartet of virtuosos performs its "Baroque Fantasy" in a concert presented by the San Jose Chamber Music Society on April 13 at Le Petit Trianon in San Jose.
As an early-music ensemble, Red Priest has distinguished itself in every way, but most unusually for the genre, it has become as famed for its keen sense of showmanship as for the considerable technical prowess of the group's members. Shunning a more pedantic approach to a repertoire that consists largely of 17th- and 18th-century compositions, the group often performs wearing flamboyant costumes and cracking jokes.
Such a flair for the theatrical hardly stops at wigs and ruffles and catchy punchlines. Red Priest's real penchant for drama is demonstrated in passionate performances. The members of the ensemble, which formed in England in 1997, are all respected musicians in their own right.
Piers Adams is considered one of the world's greatest talents on the recorder and has performed as a soloist with groups that range from the Singapore Symphony to the Academy of Ancient Music. Julia Bishop is a famed baroque violin specialist and has toured with a number of top period instrument orchestras. Angela East is such an expert period cellist that her résumé of performances stretches from the Sydney Opera House to Versailles, France.
East also founded the Revolutionary Drawing Room, a group that performs chamber works from 18th- and early 19th-century Europe and has eight widely acclaimed albums to its credit. Howard Beach not only plays harpsichord for Red Priest but is also an accomplished pianist, violinist and singer.
In keeping with the diverse backgrounds of the musicians, the Baroque Fantasy program features two centuries' worth of works from all over Europe, including compositions by J.S. Bach, Diego Ortiz, Henry Purcell, Jacob van Eyck, Cristoph Willibald von Gluck and Antonio Vivaldi, from whom the ensemble was inspired to take its name. (Although Antonio Vivaldi is best known as the composer of The Four Seasons, he was also a priest and had vivid red hair. He was sometimes known as the "Red Priest.")
The San Jose Chamber Music Society presents Red Priest on April 13 at 7 p.m. at Le Petit Trianon in San Jose. Tickets are $17$30. For more information, call 408.286.5111 or see www.sjchambermusic.org.
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