AS Music “Red Priest” Trip

On Friday 9th December the AS Music group visited Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral and St. George’s Hall:

On arrival at the Cathedral we discovered that Evensong was to be a special service, led by the Bishop of Liverpool. In addition to this, all four of us had the enormous privilege of going up to the Organ Loft with Professor Tracey (Cathedral Organist for 36 years) and watching him play for the rehearsal. At the end of the service, we were very fortunate to hear him play a breathtaking Advent piece “Von Himmel hoch” (From Heaven He Came), a wonderful opportunity to hear the 10,268 pipe largest organ in the country sounding absolutely spectacular.

The main purpose of the trip was to see and hear RED PRIEST, a highly specialized Baroque quartet, which was making a rare appearance in Liverpool. RED PRIEST is named after the Baroque composer, Antonio Vivaldi, “The Red Priest” being his nickname. They are an extremely dynamic group who present this wonderful and truly energetic music in a completely different and highly theatrical way and completely from memory. It is truly breathtaking to witness how such a small group of just four world class instrumentalists can make such an impact and connect so strongly with every member of the audience, bringing music dating from the Mediaeval era through to music of the 1600s & 1700s to life in a way that is utterly impossible to forget when you have seen it live.

Many thanks to Miss Wolfenden for organising this very entertaining and educational event.