Daniel Hope
Biography
Daniel Hope discovered the violin in the home of one of the greatest violinists of all time: Yehudi Menuhin. He spent many hours there as a young child, while his mother worked as Menuhin’s secretary.
At the age of 11, Hope received an invitation from Yehudi Menuhin to join him playing Bartók duos on German television. Their artistic partnership continued until Lord Menuhin’s final appearance in 1999, in which he conducted Hope’s performance of Alfred Schnittke’s Violin Concerto.
Born in South Africa, Hope was raised and educated in England, including at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with the great Russian teacher Zakhar Bron.
Hope is renowned internationally for his musical versatility and exploration of many styles including contemporary repertoire, Indian music and jazz.
He is also a dedicated human rights activist and a writer. His first book, Familienstücke (Family Album), is a best-selling memoir published in Germany, where he currently lives. He has also written scripts for collaborative performance pieces with the Oscar-winning actor Klaus Maria Brandauer.
Music
In August and September 2009, in Leipzig and at the BBC Proms respectively, Daniel Hope premiered Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Violin Concerto, written especially for him.
Hope has toured extensively with Anne Sofie von Otter and pianist Bengt Forsberg in a significant collaboration that began as a recording for Deutsche Grammophon and continued with a 15-city European tour. Their CD and performances of music composed during World War II by prisoners at the Theresienstadt concentration camp have won acclaim and new attention for some long-neglected music.
Among the unusual highlights of Hope’s schedule are his performance at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, commemorating the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht; collaborations with Sting and Stewart Copeland, the former drummer of The Police; and being the focus of a Daniel Hope Festival at the Philharmonie in Cologne.
Hope has worked with conductors including Hans Graf, Daniel Harding, Kurt Masur, Roger Norrington, Sakari Oramo, Michel Plasson and Mstislav Rostropovich; and instrumentalists including Thomas Adès, Yuri Bashmet, Lynn Harrell, Jaime Laredo, Sebastian Knauer, Katja and Marielle Labèque, Mark Padmore and Tabea Zimmermann. He regularly directs chamber orchestras from the violin.
Discography
2009 – Air
2008 – Antonio Vivaldi
2007 – Mendelssohn
2007 – Elgar: Violin Concerto
2007 – Terezín / Theresienstadt
2006 – Bach
2006 – Shostakovich
2006 – Beaux Arts Trio: Shostakovich
2005 – Mozart
2004 – East Meets West
2004 – Beaux Arts Trio: Mendelssohn & Dvorak
2004 – Berg & Britten Violin Concertos
2003 – Forbidden Music
2001 – Elgar – Walton – Finzi
2000 – Shostakovich – Penderecki – Schnittke
1999 – Schnittke, Takemitsu, Weill
Daniel Hope falls for the viola
Daniel Hope talks about an exciting new album, in which he explores the great violinist Joachim and the violin's big cousin.
