St Anne’s in Derby played host to a thrilling debut performance this week by RIOT!, a string trio uniting three of the UK’s most adventurous and accomplished chamber musicians: violinist Adam Summerhayes, violist Carmen Flores, and cellist Toby White. The concert was a potent mix of classical tradition and raw, contemporary expression. It was anchored by Beethoven’s Trio in G major, Op. 9 No.1, and launched into the future with the world première of Summerhayes’s newly composed work, Unfounded – the first of a trio of string trios that he is writing for the group.
The Beethoven was dispatched with playful intensity, beginning with palpable joy – almost cheekiness – moving through beautifully expressive melancholy into buoyancy, before racing towards the final exhilarating finish line. Adam gave the audience permission to applaud – assuring us that Beethoven himself would approve of ‘whooping’ at the end of the piece – yet advised that a hushed ‘wow’ would be more appropriate after the Adagio. Indeed it was.
But it was Summerhayes’s own composition, Unfounded, that truly defined the afternoon concert. Adam introduced the piece by explaining that when he was growing up he had believed the world was going to become a better place, people were going to be more prosperous, things were going to be fairer. “Now I have a feeling that all my hopes were Unfounded.” A work of extraordinary textural complexity and emotional breadth, Unfounded is rooted in folk idioms, but explodes into something that defies easy categorisation. Drawing on rhythmic structures inspired by Iranian and Central Asian traditions – there are moments that pulse like a deep club mix, bass-heavy and insistent – it merges ancient motifs with a bold, contemporary soundscape.
“The second movement,” Summerhayes said before the performance, “is like dawn on an absolutely still cold lake in Scotland. Silent. You can just hear memories.” And indeed, it opened with a hushed, aching beauty – gentle, mournful, but not bleak. The stillness enveloped the room, offering the audience a chance to breathe. The trio’s control here was masterful; every note landed with emotional weight.
The final movement was a wild ride: furiously driven, rhythmically jagged, and laced with a tension that verged on chaotic. It teased resolution, but ultimately collapsed into a defiant ending that felt more like an emotional reckoning than closure.
Summerhayes, playing his Stradivarius ‘Orinoco’, has been praised by The New York Times for his “intensely lyrical” playing, and is a force not only as a performer but as a composer with a singular voice. In Carmen Flores and Toby White, he has found musical equals – each with vivid artistry and razor-sharp instincts. Flores brings a rich warmth and depth of interpretation. White’s muscular, expressive cello playing anchors the group with a powerful precision.
Flores describes Adam’s composition as having “so much beauty and love under the craziness.” For Toby White, Unfounded shows how sympathetic such a brilliant string player can be when writing for other strings: “It’s hard, but it’s playable – Adam knows exactly what each instrument is truly capable of. His writing is intimate rather than academic.” Carmen agrees – “It pushes us, but it’s always possible.”
The concert’s organiser, Tom Corfield, reflected on the experience with enthusiasm: “Sometimes a gem just falls into my lap – RIOT! were an absolute delight.” Tom organises regular FREE Monday lunchtime concerts at the church.
Together, RIOT! lives up to its name. This is chamber music that takes risks, defies expectation, and demands attention. The debut was not only a triumph – it was a promise of more to come.
Adam will be premiering two concertos – Hunger and the Swan, and Boiled in Lead – with the Helix Ensemble on 28th June at St John The Baptist Church, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1EJ
Katie Whitehouse