Daniel Hope

Intensity and humanity define Daniel Hope's artistry. The violinist has a knack for making his instrument sing, and he performs with passionate artistic curiosity. His understanding of musical lines and proper expression has its roots in his early work with his mentor Yehudi Menuhin. This enables him to deliver distinctly personal interpretations of a broad repertoire, ranging from Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi to Takemitsu, Tavener, and Turnage. Daniel Hope's projects have drawn attention to the fate of musicians murdered by the Nazis, to the stories of others affected by hatred and narrow-mindedness, and to the art of composers who have been neglected in music history. "I'm fascinated by what music can achieve, and every year I put together various projects that, in their own way, have a certain political statement," explains Hope. "Nevertheless, I am not a politician. I am a musician. But I believe that musicians can use their talents and their form of communication to make a difference." His commitment encompasses a wide range of activities. He hosts a weekly radio show on WDR 3, is the author of four successful books for the German-speaking market, and has regularly written for The Wall Street Journal and Cicero. His achievements have been recognized with the European Cultural Award for Music (2015) and the Federal Cross of Merit (2017). Hope's conviction that the unique expressive possibilities of music can inspire people to think led him to launch Hope@9pm in 2016, a series of events at the Konzerthaus Berlin where he combines musical performances and discussions with guests from culture and politics, in the spirit of 18th-century salon culture. In 2020, he hosted Hope@Home: 150 concerts streamed daily from his living room during the first months of the pandemic. This format earned Hope the Special Jury Prize for outstanding achievements at the OPUS KLASSIK in October 2021 and led to the annual "Hope & Friends" concert on ARTE TV. Over the past 20 years, Daniel Hope has performed with many leading international orchestras and conductors, collaborated closely with composers from Alfred Schnittke, Harrison Birtwistle, and Torū Takemitsu to Sofia Gubaidulina, Roxanna Panufnik, and Gabriel Prokofiev, and has commissioned and premiered over 30 new works. Equally in demand as a soloist in concerts and recitals as he is as a chamber musician, he performs in the most prestigious concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, or at prestigious festivals such as the BBC Proms or the festivals in Salzburg and Tanglewood. In 2002, he became the youngest member in the history of the Beaux Arts Trio and gave 400 concerts with the legendary ensemble until the trio disbanded in 2008. For the annual Savannah Music Festival, Daniel Hope, as Associate Artistic Director (2004–2019), conceived extraordinary programs season after season. At the beginning of the 2016/17 season, he succeeded Roger Norrington as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and two years later he became Music Director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco, with whom he undertook its first European tour in June 2019. In 2019, he took up the newly created position of Artistic Director of the Dresden Frauenkirche, which for him is not only a place of worship but also a symbol of peace, reconciliation, and tolerance. In January 2020, he became the new President of the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, which is at the center of the events with which the music world celebrates Beethoven's 250th birthday. After his first recordings in 1999, Hope quickly earned a reputation as one of the most individual and fascinating virtuosos of his generation. In 2007, he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. On his first album for the yellow label, he played works by Mendelssohn, including the original version of the Violin Concerto in E minor. In the same year, he recorded Schulhoff's Sonata for Solo Violin as a contribution to Anne Sofie von Otter's album of music by Jewish composers from the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Today, Hope's international career is marked by particularly productive recording activity. His DG discography includes Air – A Baroque Journey (2009), The Romantic Violinist (2011), Spheres (2013), Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons (2014), Escape to Paradise (2014), Daniel Hope – My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin (2016), For Seasons (2017), and Journey to Mozart (2018). Three more albums were released in 2020: First, Belle Époque with works by Elgar, Debussy, Chausson, Zemlinsky, and Schoenberg. This was followed by an album documenting the Hope@Home chamber concerts, and then a release celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, featuring Tchaikovsky's and Elgar's Serenade for Strings as well as Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik. 2021 saw the release of Schnittke: Works for Violin and Piano, recorded with Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov, as well as Hope with music by Schubert, Elgar, Pärt, and Ramírez, recorded during lockdown as a small glimmer of hope in difficult times. In March 2022, America was released, an album exploring the roots and distinctiveness of American music. With the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and illustrious guests, Daniel Hope presents new arrangements of works by Bernstein, Cook, Copland, Ellington, Gershwin, Price, Ward, and Weill. In spring 2022, Hope and Botvinov, who had already been forced into exile from Odesa, gave charity concerts in Dresden and Berlin to support the people of Ukraine. They then recorded the digital EP Music for Ukraine with works by Silvestrov, Myroslav Skoryk, and Jan Freidlin, with proceeds donated to Aktion Deutschland Hilft for their work in Ukraine. At the same time, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn launched the "Hope for Peace" aid program to help musicians who had fled Ukraine in various ways. Hope and Botvinov had already planned a pure Silvestrov album as a follow-up to the Schnittke project, and in light of changing events, these plans took on new significance. Silvestrov, released in September 2022, features the world premiere recording of Pastorales 2020 as well as "Chopin Moments" from Two Pieces (2003), the three miniatures 25. X. 1893 … in memory of P. I. Tchaikovsky, and Hommage à J. S. B. To mark the thirtieth anniversary of his New Century Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Hope recorded and released Music for a New Century in June 2023. Alexey Botvinov performs Philip Glass's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Tan Dun's Double Concerto for Violin, Piano, Percussion, and Strings with the orchestra and its principal conductor. Mark-Anthony Turnage's Lament and Jake Heggie's Overture are also featured. Two new releases are scheduled for 2024. Dance!, released in February, takes listeners through seven centuries of music history, exploring rhythms that move the body and open the heart – whether in the 14th-century Lamento di Tristano or Wojciech Kilar's Orawa from 1986, in classics by Purcell, Handel, Mozart, Saint-Saëns, Florence Price, Duke Ellington, and many more. As part of Daniel Hope's exploration of his own Irish roots, the album Irish Roots delves into the connection between folk and classical music in Ireland. It will be released in July. In 2004, Hope was named "Young Artist of the Year" at the Classical Brit Awards. He has received seven ECHO Klassik awards, including the "Classical Without Borders" award in 2017 for For Seasons, as well as the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Prix Caecilia, "Diapason d'Or de l'année," and Edison Classical Award Special Prize 2014. He has also received numerous Grammy nominations. Daniel Hope was born in Durban, South Africa, in 1973. When he was six months old, his father, the novelist, poet, and anti-apartheid activist Christopher Hope, received an exit visa on the condition that he never return. The family first went to Paris, then to London, where Daniel's mother Eleanor became Yehudi Menuhin's secretary and later manager. As a young boy, he played with the violinist's grandchildren, who encouraged him to take violin lessons from Sheila Nelson, one of England's best music educators for children. In 1984, he entered the Royal College of Music in London and subsequently studied at the Royal Academy of Music. Hope began his career as a professional musician in 1990 and, between 1992 and 1998, received further instruction from Zakhar Bron as the culmination of his formal education. He plays the "Ex-Lipiński" by Guarneri del Gesù from 1742, which was made available to him by an unnamed family from Germany. 1/2024