An evening of Baroque music did not immediately jump out of the Bermuda Festival programme as a ‘must see’ event when I first got my hands on one last October and started plotting my ticket purchases.

First and foremost, I tend to prefer theatre, and with quite a lot of that on offer this season, my purchases were rapidly searing through my debit card.

But the positioning of the words ‘Red Hot’ before the Baroque eventually drew my attention and with the programme promising a “passionate, bizarre, over-the-top” performance, I set my sights on an evening of fiery fun.

And Red Priest certainly did sizzle on the stage of City Hall on Tuesday evening.

Is this talented quartet, however, an innovator of Baroque music or just here to remind us of the rebelliousness and genius of its best known composers — Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and Pachelbel among others? Perhaps both.

Creator Piers Adams has said the group “aims to recreate the spirit of Baroque rather than the letter”.

The Baroque period, roughly 1600-1760, was characterised by the use of complex forms, extravagant ornamentation and contrasting elements intended to imbue a sense of drama.

Oxford defines the very word baroque as “highly ornate and extravagant in style”.

And in every sense, Red Priest — drawing its name from red-headed Antonio Vivaldi’s nickname — brings these elements to the stage with its video backdrops, extravagant costumes and dramatic interpretations of the Red Priest’s own ‘Four Seasons’ as well as sampler plate of offerings from other Baroque composers including Cazzati, Handel, Bach, Van Eyck, Johnson and Vitali.

In their first act on Tuesday night, Red Priest — with Adams on recorders, Julia Bishop on violin, Angela East on cello and Howard Beach on harpsichord — offered up a ‘Baroque Carnival’.

Taking to the stage in hooded capes with faces hidden, mere creepy shadows against the a video backdrop of scenes of Venice and a rippling cacophony of traffic, church bells and chanting monks, Red Priest launched into Vivaldi’s ‘The Nightmare Concerto’.

From the first note it was evident this would be no ordinary evening of chamber music.

The group’s front man, Adams, dominated the stage with the energy and swivel-hipped body language of the young Elvis Presley — quite a neat trick for a guy playing the recorder!

Adams plays at least five different recorders — including the sopranino and an impressive looking bass — over the course of Red Priest’s two-act performance. By Autumn in Vivaldi’s trademark ‘Four Seasons’ he plays two at once without slipping in virtuosity or dexterity.

Adams sets the bar high with his stage presence and the other performers have to almost compete for attention, but the arrangements and selections allowed each moments to shine.

Cellist Angela East won cheers with her skill demonstrated on Bach’s ‘Prelude for a Cello’ while Howard Beach on the harpsichord may have missed a comedic calling.

With animated facial expressions and the tiniest of precise movements, he provides the laughs whether dozing at his instrument or prancing amongst the audience without missing a beat. Having performed together since 1997, this quartet’s practised interactions bring to tangible life the period music they have skilfully arranged to appeal to a modern aesthetic.

The crowd perhaps most delighted in their playful rendition of Robert Johnson’s ‘The Witches Dance’ complete with hisses and cackles.

The eerie moods of the first act were so well imparted that this reviewer overheard one woman ask her young son during the intermission whether he was alright or “too frightened” to continue.

By the second act’s ‘Four Seasons’, the musicians had the crowd firmly in hand for guidance through the promise of Spring with its chirping birds and bubbling streams and the lazy heat of summer to the over-indulgent euphoria of the harvest.

Even moody, icy winter was enlivened with a Calypso-infused Caribbean daydream — blatantly illustrated on the video backdrop in case you missed it.

With their enthusiasm for Baroque and technical skill combined with a sense of drama and celebration, few could fail to be entertained by this talented ensemble.

“Baroque music is, and always was, supposed to entertain,” notes Adams on the group’s website. Red Priest strives for and achieves the goal of entertaining a wide audience not merely aficionados.

This reviewer certainly makes no claim to be an aficionado or an expert — but also certainly enjoyed this inspired Baroque treat.

And, left with a better appreciation of the period’s masters.

As Adams notes: “The baroque period was one of incredible and wonderful experimentation, crazy performers competing against one another, stealing and re-writing each other’s works, mixing and developing new styles, always searching for something new to titillate the ears and move the souls of the public. Music was in every sense a living art.”