Biography

"Staggering..."

"Breathtaking..."

"Dazzling..."

"Legendary..."

"The reigning recorder virtuoso

in the world today!"

 

 

 

Piers Adams trained initially as an astrophysicist before turning professionally to the recorder at the age of 21. A series of prizes and awards - including first prize in the inaugural Moeck International Recorder Competition (1985) - led to debuts in the premier London venues, and launched his busy international solo career. He has given recitals in most of the major UK festivals and concert halls (including eight to date in the Wigmore Hall) and in most European countries, as well as visits to USA, Canada, Russia and the Far East. He has been invited to perform concertos with, amongst others, the BBC Symphony and Concert Orchestras, the Philharmonia, the Academy of Ancient Music, the English Sinfonia, the City of London Sinfonia, London Musici and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and has made many CD recordings, reflecting his wide musical tastes. He can frequently be heard on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM, both through his recordings and live concert broadcasts, and has appeared on television in many countries - including BBC's Pebble Mill, Blue Peter and Newsround.

In recital, Piers Adams performs with pianist and harpsichordist Howard Beach and guitarist Richard Durrant in programmes of astonishing breadth. With his unique collection of recorders he leads his audience from Arcadian gardens to wild gypsy carnivals, from the salons of Vienna to the cloistered walkways of English academia, from Zen theatre to sleazy Manhattan bars. His repertoire of concertos is equally expansive, ranging from the major works of the baroque era to David Bedford's ear-boggling Recorder Concerto, which he has recorded and performed many times to rapturous acclaim.

Amongst Piers Adams' most successful ventures are the baroque supergroup Red Priest, which has brought a radical new approach to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries, and his Recorder Roadshow which has appeared on BBC news and in the Guinness Book of Records. He has also been closely involved in a major multimedia venture entitled "Dances with Gods", which combines his recorder playing with modern electroacoustics, ancient mythology and Indian dance.

Although he currently has little time for teaching, Piers Adams has been actively involved in education over the years, with professorships at a number of UK music colleges, and ongoing masterclasses at the Dartington International Summer School. He has also been active in musicological fields, researching, arranging and publishing new recorder repertoire.