Adam Summerhayes, Emil Chakalov, London Concertante
Biography Adam Summerhayes, Emil Chakalov, London Concertante
Adam Summerhayes
defies musical categorisation; he effortlessly moves between disciplines – 20th century chamber music recordings, early music, a fiddle lament or the wild and spiralling improvisations that are his trademark. A New York Times review reflects something of this: ‘astonishing, all-out virtuosity on violin by Adam Summerhayes – including “beer-fiddling”, as he terms it’. For him, music is about storytelling: communication and unrestrained creativity. His mastery of a diverse range of genres underpins the apparent disregard for traditional boundaries in his compositions and improvisations – creating new musical narratives in his own dialect.
His “thrilling virtuosity” (Gramophone) perhaps stems both from his technical grounding from Yfrah Neaman, one of the twentieth century’s greatest pedagogues, and his own fiddle heritage: he was taught by his grandfather, a pupil of Adolf Brodsky, the player who premiered Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto. He is steeped in folk idioms from a long line of north-country fiddlers and Eastern European influences are part of his musical bloodline. A fiddler with a virtuoso technique “like the direct descendant of the devil’s violinist Paganini” (Badische Zeitung, Feb 2019).
His international career began with solo concertos in prestigious venues such as the Hermitage Theatre in St Petersburg and the Rudolfinum in Prague; he has since toured the USA and Europe as a concerto soloist. Much of his career has been devoted to chamber music, kick-started by a Purcell Room recital of music by Copland and Alan Bush – ‘consummate virtuosity from all three players’ The Strad – and highly critically acclaimed premier recordings of the same – ‘to die for’ The Strad; ‘I cannot recommend this too highly’ Gramophone; ‘ utterly compelling’ BBC Music Magazine. The Bush recording was a selected disc in Gramophone Magazine.
He has performed in many prestigious venues: South Bank Centre’s Purcell Room; Queen Elizabeth Hall; Wigmore Hall; and recently in distinguished international venues including the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music Concert Hall, the Théatre du Chatelet, Paris, and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Extensive international touring has taken him across the majority of Europe, to Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Canada, Alaska, the USA, and New Zealand.
Not only has Adam played in some of the world’s most highly esteemed venues, but also has played with Dutch platinum selling pop star Caro Emerald to 20,000 people in the O2 arena.
Adam first explored pushing the boundaries of genre with Zum, the world-touring gypsy-tango band: the new ‘gypsy tango’ genre arose partly as a result of both his composition and unique “intoxicating … virtuoso fiddle playing” (The Times). He joined the extraordinarily dynamic baroque group Red Priest in 2015 and arranged and composed most of Red Priests latest album “The Baroque Bohemians”, an incandescent mix of baroque virtuosity and gypsy influence that topped the classical charts.
Adam’s arrangements and compositions feature most notably Harmonia Mundi’s ‘Piazzolla and Beyond’ – ‘a riveting, dramatic and even sexy listen’ BBC – in Chandos’s ‘Gypsy Strings’ – ‘cumulative excitement and sheer abandon’ Gramophone. He has recorded 25 discs for various labels including Harmonia Mundi, Meridian Records, Chandos, ASV, Toccata Classics, Sargasso and Red Priest Recordings and now has own label – Extinct Records. He composed a track for the soundtrack of Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, where he also makes a cameo appearance as a gypsy. Adam recorded live on set, improvising a melancholy melody as Robert Downey Jnr’s body double before training the actor to mime to the resulting track. Adam’s music is played frequently on radio stations throughout the world as well as on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM.
Also a remarkable multi-instrumentalist, Adam has developed a dramatic and unique baroque guitar style: ‘spectacularly joined on guitar taking a momentary break from his equally breath-taking violin wizardry.’ — Stuff.co.nz. He plays medieval gemshorns, mandolin, mandola and a keyboard melodica, instruments that feature in Dodo Street Band and The Ciderhouse Rebellion – another developing project, with master accordionist Murray Grainger (“Grainger’s accordion with Summerhayes’s fiddle are especially beautiful” Songlines). At the other end of the instrumental spectrum, he made premiere recordings on viola of works by Copland and Alan Bush – critically acclaimed additions to the recorded musical canon.
His festival sell-out new project, Dodo Street Band, spins elements of the traditional tunes from his musical bloodline to create a wildly irreverent take on folk music. Performances with Cormac Byrne, the world renowned bodhran player, led to their remarkable recording – ‘Stone Soup’ – released in May 2019 … ‘we didn’t plan anything, we just started to play’.
Emil Chakalov
was born in Varna, Bulgaria, where, encouraged by his musical family, he began playing the violin at the age of 5. From an early age he began performing on stage, participating in concerts, courses and masterclasses. At the age of 16 Emil moved to Spain, where he studied for one year, performing in and leading the Elche Chamber Orchestra. From there he moved to Sofia, Bulgaria, joining the class of Professor Dora Ivanova at the Bulgarian State Music Academy. He studied at the State Music Academy for a further six years, culminating in the completion of his Bachelor’s degree. Immediately after graduation, Emil was awarded a British Council Scholarship to study at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, with Professor Ifrah Neaman. Here he completed the Advanced Instrumental Studies Course, with Distinction. Subsequently he continued his studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music with Vasko Vassilev, Leader of the Royal Opera House, London, and was invited to lead the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music Orchestra.
Emil has remained in London ever since, and has built a successful career as an orchestral, chamber and session musician. He is one of the leaders of the Orchestra of the English National Ballet, where he regularly performs the violin solos in beloved ballets such as Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, at the London Coliseum, the Royal Albert Hall and other prestigious venues. He also performs regularly with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and others. Emil is also a member of John Elliot Gardiner’s Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, which tours America and Europe striving to provide bold new perspectives on the music of the 19th and early 20th centuries through its stylistic fidelity and intensity of expression.
Emil also has a diverse studio career. He has performed and recorded with famous artists such as: Sir Elton John, Coldplay, Sir Tom Jones and many others, and has recorded soundtracks for films and musicals. He is also featured performing in the British drama film The Duchess (2008) directed by Saul Dibb, and in Sherlock Holmes: A game of Shadows (2011) directed by Guy Ritchie.Emil performs regular recitals in England, in his native Bulgaria, in Spain, France and internationally.
Emil has recorded a CD for Chandos of traditional Eastern European Violin Music, including Monti’s Czardaz, and is a prize winner of the Vladigerov International Violin Competition and Yamaha Competitions.
