?Crossing the classics with modern sensibilities? is how one publication summed up Bermuda Festival artists Red Priest, who open a two-night run at City Hall theatre tomorrow evening.

Quirky costumes, innovative musical arrangements, virtuosic skills, and a zany sense of humour are the ingredients which have set this extraordinary quartet apart from the herd and won them rave reviews wherever they appear.

Their programme, ?Red Hot Baroque?, is as over the top as its title implies. The performance comes with a dark stage, occasional flashes of lightning, the rumble of thunder, and dry ice swirling in a red glow as four silhouetted figures appear against a backlit stage. A lady in a basque, and someone wearing devil?s horns is part of this Gothic landscape. A man in black leathers emerges and launches into, of all things, a solo on descant recorder.

Wacky and surreal this presentation may be, but then the word ?Baroque? means ?bizarre?, according to the quartet?s leader, Piers Adams, so ?improvisation was expected of performers at the time, and the relationships between drama, dance and music were more fluid?.

?We have been doing theatrical performances for years, and this show just took it one stage further, with added lighting, amplification, sound effects and video,? he says.

In what is described as an amalgamation of early music and the latest technology, among other works the four musicians will play Vivaldi?s evocative ?Four Seasons? on recorders (Mr. Adams plays two at once!), violin, cello and harpsichord, graphically evoking depictions of storms, winds, ice and searing heat, dancing peasants, huntsmen, birds and even a dying stag.

Described as ?theatrical, flamboyant and so outrageous that you can?t help but admire their bravura approach to interpreting such classics as the Vivaldi, it is certain that this four-part ensemble?s superb musicianship will provide an unforgettable evening?s entertainment for Festivalgoers.

Founded in 1997, Red Priest now gives over 70 concerts a year, and can regularly be heard on BBC and radio stations worldwide. Their three CDs have also achieved international fame.

Performances on both evenings begin at 8 p.m. For ticket and other information see the Bermuda Calendar.