Red Priest Joins Bach Festival Society's 2015-16 Season in Winter Park

Bach Festival Society of Winter Park will present baroque ensemble Red Priest on Sunday, January 24 at 3:00pm at Tiedtke Concert Hall on the Rollins College campus as part of the Society's Visiting Artist Series, known for bringing the world's top chamber musicians and composers to Central Florida.

Famous for their flamboyant and theatrical performances, Red Priest will offer a program called "Priest on the Run," a lightning tour across Baroque Europe, featuring Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto in D (RV92), Johann Schmelzer's The Cuckoo Sonata, Georg Telemann's Gypsy Sonata in A Minor and Dario Castello's Sonata Terza.

Red Priest is one of the major success stories on the international early music scene today. This extraordinary English ensemble has redefined the art of baroque music performance, combining the fruits of extensive research with swashbuckling virtuosity, creative re-composition, heart-on-sleeve emotion and compelling stagecraft. The group performs largely from memory, allowing an operatic level of freedom and interaction, and its programs are drawn from myriad baroque sources to create a kaleidoscopic range of moods and colors

"Baroque music revels in the extravagant," the group said. "The very word 'baroque' implies bizarre and over the top, and the leading musicians of the day were true pioneers, riding the seas of change with wild abandon, ever searching for new musical ideas to titillate the ears and move the souls of the public."

Red Priest is the only early music group in the world to have been compared in the press to the Rolling Stones, Jackson Pollock, the Marx Brothers, Spike Jones and Cirque du Soleil. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said, "Any group that can make you rethink a masterpiece and also make it fun is rare indeed."

Founded in 1997, Red Priest is named after the flame-haired priest, Antonio Vivaldi. The group has performed throughout Europe, Japan, Australia and North and Central America with regular appearances at international festivals that include the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Moscow December Nights Festival, Schwetzingen Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Ravinia Festival and Bermuda Festival.

In 2008, Red Priest launched its own record label, Red Priest Recordings. Recent releases have included a collection titled "Pirates of the Baroque" and the all-Bach "Johann, I'm Only Dancing." The group's latest release is a tribute to another Baroque master, "Handel in the Wind."

Tickets range from $35 to $50; $10 tickets for students can be purchased at the door, subject to availability. Bach Festival Tickets are available by calling the Bach Festival Box Office at 407.646.2182 and online at www.BachFestivalFlorida.org.

Red Priest will also perform Share the Music programs for area public school children through partnerships with Orange County Public Schools and A Gift for Music. Knowles Memorial Chapel is located on the campus of Rollins College, 1000 Holt Avenue, in Winter Park.

Located in Winter Park, Florida, the Bach Festival Society is one of the longest continuously operating Bach Festivals in the country and among America's great oratorio societies. The Bach Festival Society brings the highest caliber of classical music to Central Florida. Performances are held in the intimate settings of Tiedtke Concert Hall and Knowles Memorial Chapel on the beautiful campus of Rollins College.