Daniel Hope

Daniel Hope was born in Durban in 1974. When he was six months old, his father, the distinguished novelist, poet and anti-apartheid activist Christopher Hope, was finally granted an exit visa. The family went first to Paris, then to London, where Daniel’s mother Eleanor was engaged by Yehudi Menuhin to be his secretary, later becoming the celebrated violinist and conductor’s long-time manager. In 1978 Hope began to study the violin in London with Sheila Nelson. Six years later he commenced his studies at the Royal College of Music with Itzhak Rashkovsky, Felix Andrievsky and Grigory Zhislin and appeared on British television. In 1985 he was invited by Menuhin to perform the Bartók Duos for German television, which began a long association between the two violinists that included over 60 concerts. From 1992–1998 he was a pupil of Zakhar Bron at London’s Royal Academy of Music, from which he graduated. Daniel Hope has appeared all over the globe with the world’s most renowned orchestras and conductors and has won numerous prizes for his recordings such as five Echo Awards, the Classical Brit Award, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis andnumerous Grammy^® nominations.

1995	Gives the world premiere of Douglas Jarman’s critical edition of the Berg Violin Concerto; works with Toru Takemitsu, later recording his violin concerto Nostalghia
1999	Performs the Schnittke Violin Concerto in Düsseldorf in Menuhin’s final concert
2000	Plays and conducts before an audience of 20,000 people on Munich’s Königsplatz
2001	Voted “Classical Performer of the Year” by London’s Evening Standard
2002	Becomes the youngest-ever member of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio; plays premiere of Jan Müller-Wieland’s violin concerto Ballad of Ariel in Berlin, one of many works he regularly commissions from young composers
2003	Gives the world premiere of Schnittke’s newly discovered Sonata 1955 in London
2004	Begins his relationship with the Savannah Music Festival as artist-in-residence; the festival formally appoints him Associate Artistic Director (through 2009). At the Classical Brit Awards, Hope is named “Young Artist of the Year”
2005	Premieres the Violin Concerto Abraham composed for him by Roxanna Panufnik and presents the US premiere of his programme East Meets West with Indian sitar master Gaurav Mazumdar at Savannah; performs at Dachau for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp
2006	Appearances include concerts with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, City of Birmingham Symphony, Gulbenkian Foundation and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; recital tour of Germany; begins collaboration with Stewart Copeland, legendary drummer of The Police
2007	Signs an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Engagements include concerts with the Netherlands Philharmonic (collaborating with composer Tan Dun), Munich Philharmonic, the BBC, City of Birmingham, Boston and Chicago symphony orchestras. Extensive European and North American tours with the Beaux Arts Trio. Performances with actor Klaus Maria Brandauer reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer and in their latest collaboration “War and Pieces”. Numerous recitals throughout Europe and in New York. Festival appearances at Savannah, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Ravinia, Bloomington (Indiana), BBC Proms, Beethovenfest Bonn and the Enescu Festival in Bucharest. Chamber music at New York’s 92nd St. “Y”. Hope’s first book Familienstücke. Eine Spurensuche is published in German. In his debut recording for Deutsche Grammophon, Hope presents works by Mendelssohn; he also participates in Anne Sofie von Otter’s album of music by Jewish composers in the Terezín concentration camp. His live performance of Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo and his performance of Tippett’s Triple Concerto at the BBC Proms are available for download within the DG Concerts series
2008	The year opens with a New Year’s Concert in Geneva with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Other concerts include performances with numerous German orchestras, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Zurich and Swedish Chamber Orchestras, Orchestre National de France and Concertgebouw Orchestra; tour to the Far East. Recitals with pianist Sebastian Knauer; North American and European tours with the Beaux Arts Trio. Festival appearances include Ravinia, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau, Lucerne (including his final concert with the Beaux Arts Trio), Schubertiade and Beethovenfest Bonn. Release of Hope’s recording of Vivaldi violin concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
2009	Performances include concerts with the Stuttgart, Munich and Zurich Chamber orchestras, Warsaw Philharmonic (in Germany), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Concerto Köln. “Theresienstadt/Terezín” concert tours of US and Europe with von Otter; concerts in Cologne with pianist/harpsichordist Kristian Bezuidenhout; recitals with Knauer all over Europe; with Brandauer: recital/readings in Germany and Vienna as well as Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat in New York. Festival appearances include Bodensee, Ludwigsburg, Kissinger Sommer, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein, Berlioz (La Côte Saint-André), Menuhin (Gstaad), Enescu (Bucharest) and Savannah; appearance with lutenist Stefan Maass at London’s 100 Club. Autumn release: Air – A Baroque Journey, with members of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
2010	Air concerts in London, Germany, Norway and Switzerland; Baroque programmes in Germany. Performances of the Brahms Concerto in Italy with Orchestra Verdi, in Germany and Korea with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (Norrington), and in Luxembourg, South Africa, Turkey and Australia. Other appearances include concerts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin, Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen, Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg. Recitals with Knauer; recital/readings with Brandauer (“Faust” – featuring music from Goethe’s time) and author Roger Willemsen in Germany; widely varied repertoire and chamber partners in numerous festival appearances including Savannah, Trondheim, Bonn, Bad Kissingen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Verbier
2011	Bruch concerto with the Orchestre National de Belgique in Brussels, Germany and Switzerland; concerts with the Lucerne Festival Strings, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ensemble ACJW. Recitals with Knauer (including Joachim-related repertoire) and Jeffrey Kahane as well as “Music from Terezín” with Anne Sofie von Otter. Festival appearances include Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Savannah, Aspen and Santa Fe. Book presentations (Toi, toi, toi!) in Vienna and Germany. Released this year: The Romantic Violinist, a celebration of Joseph Joachim, including works by Joachim, Schubert, Bruch, Clara Schumann, Brahms and Dvorák