Daniel Hope

The Violinist Daniel Hope has enjoyed a thriving international solo career for more than 30 years. Celebrated for his musical versatility and dedication to humanitarian causes, he has been recognized with a string of honors including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the 2015 European Culture Prize for Music.  Hope directs many ensembles from the violin, becoming Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in 2016 and becoming also Music Director of San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra two years later. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2007 with an award-winning discography, he is also a popular radio and television host who may currently be seen in Hope@Home on Tour. Since 2020, and, following in the distinguished footsteps of Kurt Masur and Joseph Joachim, Hope launched his tenure as President of the Beethovenhaus Bonn. He is artistic director of Frauenkirche cathedral in Dresden, curating about 40 concerts per year. 

Hope first drew notice as the youngest member of the Beaux Arts Trio, giving more than 400 performances with the esteemed ensemble during its final six seasons. Today he is a familiar face at the most prestigious international venues and festivals, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and from Aspen and Tanglewood to Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein and London’s BBC Proms. He works with conductors including Valery Gergiev, Kurt Masur, Simon Rattle, Vladimir Jurowski, and with the world’s foremost ensembles, including the symphony orchestras of Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Hope has commissioned more than 30 new works, . It was Hope who premiered and made the first recording of the critically revised version of Berg’s Violin Concerto. 

One of today’s most prolific classical recording artists, Hope has more than 30 albums to his name. Recognized with awards including the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the Diapason d’Or of the Year, the Edison Classical Award and the Prix Caecilia, his discography features recordings of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Octet with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, named one of the best of the year by the New York Times; Berg’s Violin Concerto, voted the “top choice of all available recordings” by Gramophone magazine; Belle Epoque, which combines popular music and classical rarities from Europe before the First World War; Journey to Mozart, on which Hope pairs the composer’s Third Concerto with examples by his predecessors and contemporaries, and Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed, which topped the charts in 22 countries and remains one of the bestselling classical releases of recent times. In 2017, a documentary titled Daniel Hope – The Sound of Life was screened in movie theaters across North America, Australia and Europe. 

A musical activist who engages in many spheres, Hope has penned four bestselling books, all published by Germany’s Rowohlt Verlag. He contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal and has written scripts for collaborative performances with the actors Klaus Maria Brandauer and Mia Farrow.  He created and hosted Hope@Home, a livestreamed TV series featuring music and talk with guest artists ranging from Barrie Kosky to Robert Wilson. Professionally produced from Hope’s Berlin living room for the German/French ARTE TV network, the daily series was streamed almost five million times by viewers on five continents, raising several thousand Euros for arts- related charities. 

Daniel Hope was educated at London’s Highgate School and Royal Academy of Music and the College of Music in Lubeck/Germany, studying violin with Zakhar Bron, besides working closely with his mentor Yehudi Menuhin, with whom he gave numerous concerts. Now living with his family in Berlin, Hope plays the 1742 “ex-Lipínski” Guarneri del Gesù, placed generously at his disposal by an anonymous German family. 

December 2020