Red Priest will perform in San Antonio on March 4 and in Pleasanton on Tuesday, March 6 at the Douglas R. Williamson Performing Arts Center. Founded in 1997 by the British recorder virtuoso Piers Adams, and named after the flame-haired priest, Antonio Vivaldi, the baroque quartet Red Priest will be featured in the San Antonio Chamber Music Society’s March 4th concert. 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-allrules, rock-chamber concert approach to early music.”

Red Priest has given several hundred sell-out concerts in many of the world’s most prestigious festivals, includ- ing the Hong Kong Arts Festival, Moscow December Nights Festival, Prague Spring Festival, Ravinia Festival, Bermuda Festival, and in most European countries, Japan, Australia, and throughout North and Central America. In 2008 Red Priest launched its own record label, Red Priest Recordings, which is now the home for all of the recordings of the ensemble and its members, and is widely followed in the music press worldwide.

The Sunday, March 4th, concert features a smorgasbord of music from the baroque repertoire. The concert’s theme, “Pirates of the Baroque” refers to the earthy spirit of the composers of the Baroque era and the elements of skullduggery that were sometimes involved in the composition of the music. The concert will be at Temple Beth-El, 211 Belknap Place, starting at 3:15 PM. Tickets at the door are $25 with students admitted free and active duty military at a discounted price of $15. For additional information about the concert, on-line ticket sales, directions to the venue, and program notes, set your browser to http:// sacms.org or call 210-408- 1558.

Pleasanton

An outreach concert will also be presented at the Dougls R. Williamson Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, March 6 at 2:30 p.m.

The show is free to the public. A reception will be held afterwards at the City of Pleasanton Council Chambers.