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 the Cirque du Soleil. This extraordinary acoustic foursome has been described by music critics as “visionary and heretical”, “outrageous yet compulsive”, “wholly irreverent and highly enlightened”, “completely wild and deeply imaginative”, with a “red-hot wicked sense of humour” and a “break-all-rules, rock-chamber concert approach to early music”. Founded in 1997, and named after the red-headed priest, Antonio Vivaldi, Red Priest has given over 1000 sell-out concerts in many of the world’s most prestigious festivals.
After their recent foray into the world of gypsy music with their classical-chart-topping Baroque Bohemians project, Red Priest return to their origins with a stunning programme of truly baroque classics, arranged and performed with their trademark energy, virtuosity and (in the best baroque sense) madness!
‘Astonishing all-out virtuosity’ New York Times
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Tim Horton is one of the UK’s leading pianists, equally at home in solo and chamber repertoire. He is a founder member of both the Leonore Piano Trio and Ensemble 360 and has been a regular guest pianist with the Nash Ensemble. He was invited to make his solo debut at Wigmore Hall in 2016 where he will be giving further solo recitals in the coming seasons. Between 2011 and 2015 Tim presented a complete Beethoven Sonata cycle at the Crucible Studio, Sheffield for Music in the Round, and was invited to return to perform a cycle of Schubert Sonatas from 2017-2019.
Following two performances of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and the Royal Festival Hall, London in 1995, at the recommendation of Alfred Brendel, Tim was asked to give concerts with the RLPO, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.
With the Leonore Piano Trio, Tim has given concerts throughout the UK, Scandinavia, New Zealand and Europe. They have performed a cycle of the complete Beethoven Trios at King’s Place, London and have repeated the cycle at various venues since then. They have produced seven discs for Hyperion, including the complete Parry Trios and the Piano Quartet with Rachel Roberts. They have also recorded the complete Piano Trios of David Matthews for Toccata Classics. Future plans include further cycles of the Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn and Dvorak Trios and concerts at the Wigmore Hall and throughout the UK and Europe.
With Ensemble 360, a mixed group of strings, wind and piano that took up residency at the Crucible Studio in Sheffield in 2005, Tim has performed to great acclaim throughout the UK and abroad. The Ensemble presents an annual nine-day festival in May, in collaboration with Music in the Round. The Ensemble has also recorded discs of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Spohr and Poulenc.
He has performed regularly at the Aldeburgh, Bath, Elverum, Plush, Presteigne, Midsummer Music and North Norfolk festivals. In 2018 he was invited to curate two weekends of concerts at the Plush Festival in Dorset. The repertoire included music from Gesualdo, through Bach, Haydn, Beethoven and Brahms, to Stockhausen, Kurtag, Boulez and Michael Berkeley performed by the Fieri Consort, The Heath Quartet, Sir Andras Schiff and many close colleagues from the world of chamber music. In the previous two seasons of the same festival Tim worked closely with Oliver Knussen and Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
Tim has performed with many leading chamber musicians including the Elias, Vertavo and Talich Quartets, Paul Lewis, Imogen Cooper, Alasdair Beatson, Bjorg Lewis, Robin Ireland (with whom he has released two discs), Peter Cropper, Adrian Brendel and Rachel Roberts.
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Formed in 1972, the Brodsky Quartet is probably the finest quartet performing in the UK today. They maintain high technical standards and play meticulously; their interpretations are full of passion, drama, and wit. From their individual prowess to their near-telepathic sense of ensemble and their chameleonesque ability to inhabit the sound-world of any period, their performances seem boundless in possibility.
“They are one of a handful of string quartets that have come to represent an elite in redefining the nature and function of a string quartet ensemble.” The Scottish Herald
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