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Daniel Hope streams Hope@Home from San Francisco / Violinist.com
Posted At : November 18, 2020 12:00 AM
When the first European lockdowns began last March, the multi-talented British violinist Daniel Hope immediately sprang to action with a DIY show called Hope@Home.
Hope -- who has experience writing, producing and broadcasting - seemingly overnight created a high-production, high-quality show which he broadcast every single day six weeks from his living room in Berlin. It's lovely to watch, and his guests included classical celebrities such as Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann and Robert Wilson. He didn't stop there -- he created a sequel, Hope@Home on Tour! In all, he's created almost 70 episodes, which have been streamed more than eight million times. He's also raised tens of thousands of Euros for artists in need. (You can find these and watch them for free on Hope's Facebook page.)
So what could be next? He decided to bring the show to San Francisco, to create six new Hope@Home Next Generation shows with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, a group that has not played since January due to the ever-worsening COVID situation in the United States. Hope has served as Artistic Director of the group since 2018, following violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg's tenure. Here is the first show, which was streamed today:
The shows will be archived and available free of charge for 30 days after the streaming date. The episodes will stream daily at 10 AM PST, from today through Nov. 23, and you can Click here to see the archived episodes.
READ THE FULL Violinist.com ARTICLE & WATCH THE VIDEO
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Daniel Hope@Home is the WFMT: Featured New Release
Posted At : September 3, 2020 12:00 AM
"Hope@Home" features a selection of the livestream concerts that violinist Daniel Hope presented during his period of social distancing. Performed from his living room in Berlin as well as with an assortment of prestigious guests for Arte Concert, "Hope@Home" includes appearances from Christoph Israel, Max Raabe, Till Brönner, Joy Denalane, Matthias Goerne, and Jacques Ammon, among others. Hope comments: "This album is a document of these extraordinary weeks. Everything you hear is live, one take only…there were no patches or editing, no second takes. Sometimes life doesn't allow for second takes. This was my world for six magical and highly unusual weeks. I hope you enjoy listening."
For September 3 2020, Daniel Hope@Home is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'
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Balm for the soul from Daniel Hope@Home / San Francisco Classical Voice
Posted At : August 21, 2020 12:00 AM
It didn't take violinist Daniel Hope long to pivot in the pandemic era. By the end of March, this "he's everywhere" artist had launched Hope@Home, a series of livestreamed salons featuring fellow performers of all sorts, from pianist-composer Christoph Israel to singers, actor Sebastian Koch (Homeland), and even a pair of post horn players.
The "@Home" designation was literal at first, with Hope and his socially distanced guests making music at his own bespoke Belle Époque apartment in Berlin, smartly fitted out for high sound and video quality. Hope subsequently took his chamber-scale gatherings on tour, to locations including a Bavarian mountaintop. A number of the episodes are available on YouTube and on ARTE TV's website.
Bay Area audiences may take particular hometown pride in the enterprise. Hope was appointed music director of San Francisco's New Century Chamber Orchestra in 2018. It's one of several artistic leadership positions he's occupied.
As this series' genial and generous host, Hope occasionally chats with his virtual audience, in soothing but purposeful tones. Freelance musicians have been hit especially hard during the Covid crisis, as he says. Hope adds that anything listeners can contribute to support musicians - or anyone else impacted by the pandemic - would be a much-needed blessing. The same could be said of the aptly named Hope@ Home itself, a welcome source of comfort for musicians and isolated audiences alike.
A new digital-only Deutsche Grammophon audio release captures the intimate, confiding character of the project. It's no faint praise to say this collection of 21 selections is easy listening. Hope and his collaborators dare to be direct and open-hearted in a playlist that includes such über-standards as "Over the Rainbow," "Summertime," "Moon River," and "America the Beautiful."
READ THE FULL San Francisco Classical Voice ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope - Belle Epoque is the WFMT: Featured New Release
Posted At : May 11, 2020 12:00 AM
The Belle Époque, the period between the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and the outbreak of World War One in 1914, was a time of apparent peace and prosperity but with a darker reality of social and economic deprivation lying not far beneath its gilded surface. This era of creativity and contradiction has long fascinated Daniel Hope: "I often wish I had a time machine to go back to the salons of Paris, indeed to that entire age," he says. Hope's new recording offers a panoramic snapshot of the music that came out of this world, capturing its mix of late-Romantic, Impressionist, and Modernist styles.
For May 11, 2020 - Daniel Hope - Belle Epoque is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'
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Daniel Hope makes notable NCCO debut with Max Richter's Recomposed / SFCV
Posted At : January 23, 2019 12:00 AM
Violinist Daniel Hope has been soloist, first violinist, guest conductor, and "artistic partner" with the ensemble, and yet when he leads the New Century Chamber Orchestra Feb. 7-10, it will be a notable debut, his first appearance as new music director. The NCCO's theme is "recomposition," with Max Richter's Recomposed: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons, from Hope's 2012 bestselling Deutsche Grammophon album. Rather than variations on a theme, Richter's work discards most of Vivaldi's original material, phasing and looping what remains, and emphasizing Richter's own style grounded in minimalism and contemporary electronica.
READ THE FULL SFCV ARTICLE
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SMF celebrates its 30th season with a stellar lineup / Savannah Morning News
Posted At : November 12, 2018 12:00 AM
From March 28 through April 13, 2019, the Savannah Music Festival (SMF) celebrates its landmark 30th season with a stellar lineup of concerts, recitals, dance parties and presentations, and family-friendly performances in nine venues across Savannah's Historic District. From its origins as Savannah On Stage, SMF has grown to become one of the nation's leading multi-disciplinary musical arts events, distinguished by its commitment to innovative programming and known for attracting top-flight artists and audiences from across the country and overseas.
The 30th festival season features many artists making their SMF debuts, new collaborations with area arts organizations, and original programs from Associate Artistic Directors (and SMF artists) violinist Daniel Hope, in a performance of Beethoven's Triple Concerto with David Finckel and Wu Han of The Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In his 16th season as SMF Associate Artistic Director, Hope brings together world-class musicians from across North America and Europe for Daniel Hope & Friends, SMF's annual chamber music series. This year's lineup includes violinists Benny Kim and Simos Papanas, violists Paul Neubauer and CarlaMaria Rodrigues, cellists Eric Kim and Keith Robinson, bassist Joseph Conyers, and pianists Simon Crawford-Phillips and Sebastian Knauer. On the final day of the festival, Hope appears on a special presentation with his father, Christopher Hope, in a program titled "My Son the Fiddler" (April 13).
SMF brings together artists collaborating for the first time in their careers, with unique double bills that include John Medeski's Mad Skillet with Jon Cleary; Kat Edmonston with Pokey Lafarge; and others. SMF also welcomes back guitarist Charlie Hunter and his Trio, joined by vocalist Lucy Woodward (April 11).
READ THE FULL Savannah Morning News ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope set for 'buy a piece of the piece' fundraiser / theStrad
Posted At : August 22, 2018 12:00 AM
The organisers of a charity concert in Heidelberg, Germany, are taking an unusual approach to ticket sales to the 23 November Stadthalle Heidelberg concert featuring violinist Daniel Hope with the ensemble L'Arte del Mondo under Werner Ehrhardt in Vivaldi's Four Seasons, followed by Max Richter's 2012 reinterpretation of the piece, ‘Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons'. The intention is for both pieces to be played in their entirety but this fundraiser makes you part of the composition. Each concert ticket sold will not only grant its buyer concert admittance but also a bar of music from the piece. Unsold tickets will result in bars of music going unplayed. As a fundraiser, one can buy every single seat and bar that is played in the evening.
According to the charity, the National Centre for Tumour Diseases, the sale of each bar will benefit cancer research projects at the centre's Heidelberg base. Photo: Thomas Entzeroth READ theStrad ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope - Journey to Mozart is finely focused and characterful / theStrad
Posted At : May 12, 2018 12:00 AM
‘I am completely in awe at the scale of his genius,' writes Daniel Hope about Mozart. A pure Mozart album would be too easy, though, and Hope takes the thoughtful route – a ‘Journey to Mozart'. So there's one of Haydn's charming but light concertos and slow movements by Josef Mysliveček – a friend and mentor of Mozart's – and Johann Peter Salomon, the violinist who enticed Haydn to London. The sound in these strings-and-harpsichord-accompanied works is finely focused and characterful.
The disc is topped by two instrumental selections from Gluck's Orfeo and tailed by the ‘Turkish Rondo' from Mozart's A major Sonata. The Furies' Sturm und Drang is accentuated by some unscheduled sul ponticello, while the violin substitutes for the Blessed Spirits' more usual flute. The Rondo is a riot, Hope's violin vying with harpsichord for the spotlight, and a kitchenette of various ‘exotic' percussion instruments. All in all, it makes quite a journey.
READ THE FULL Strad REVIEW
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Daniel Hope with ZCO, set for Vivaldi and Yehudi Menuhin tribute at Sydney Opera House / Daily Telegraph
Posted At : April 14, 2018 12:00 AM
"EVERY time I play Mozart I can only shake my head, because I can't even begin to fathom the scale of his genius."
So says dynamic British violinist Daniel Hope. His Journey to Mozart is out now. The album features pieces by Christoph Willibald Gluck, a key figure in the transition from the Baroque to Classical periods, Joseph Haydn and two lesser figures, eclipsed by Mozart, in the Czech Josef Myslivecek and the violinist and concert promoter Johann Peter Salomon, who helped to ensure both Haydn and Mozart's lasting success.
Hope who is coming here in September with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra as their artistic director. They will play at Sydney Opera House Concert Hall in September as part of the Utzon Series, performing Vivaldi's Four Seasons alongside a program paying tribute to Hope's mentor Yehudi Menuhin.
READ THE FULL Daily Telegraph ARTICLE
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ZCO extends Daniel Hope's MD contract through 2022 season / The Violin Channel
Posted At : March 14, 2018 12:00 AM
The Zurich Chamber Orchestra has announced the contract extension of Music Director Daniel Hope - through to the end of the 2021/2022 season. The 44 year old British violin virtuoso joined the ensemble in the 2014 as their artist-in-residence – before being promoted to the music directorship in January 2016. "I am delighted to be extending my contract with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra ahead of time. We have achieved an enormous amount in such a short period … several tours and residencies in Europe and Asia … two albums for Deutsche Grammophon – and major growth in our subscription series in Zurich. The Zurich Chamber Orchestra was the first ensemble I heard as a boy of four … to be directing it 40 years on is a dream come true" Hope said.
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SEE The Violin Channel PAGE
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Daniel Hope - Journey to Mozart is KDFC: Album Of the Week
Posted At : March 4, 2018 12:00 AM
After some off-the-beaten-track recordings, violinist Daniel Hope returns to core repertory with his latest, Journey to Mozart. Music of Mozart (of course), including his popular Violin Concerto #3, plus works by Mozart contemporaries: Haydn, Gluck, Myslivecek, and Salomon. Hope is joined on the album by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
For the Week of March 5th 2018, the KDFC: San Francisco pick for Album Of the Week is Daniel Hope - Journey to Mozart
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Daniel Hope - Journey to Mozart is KUSC: Album Of the Week
Posted At : March 4, 2018 12:00 AM
After some off-the-beaten-track recordings, violinist Daniel Hope returns to core repertory with his latest, Journey to Mozart. Music of Mozart (of course), including his popular Violin Concerto #3, plus works by Mozart contemporaries: Haydn, Gluck, Myslivecek, and Salomon. Hope is joined on the album by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
For the Week of March 5th 2018, the KUSC: Los Angeles pick for Album Of the Week is Daniel Hope - Journey to Mozart
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Daniel Hope - Journey to Mozart is WFMT: Featured New Release
Posted At : February 23, 2018 12:00 AM
A stylish player and imaginative programmer, Daniel Hope would never give us just a Mozart violin concerto album. Instead, as the title implies, he leads us towards the composer, putting him in context, and taking us down some intriguing and delightful byways. So, before Mozart's ever-charming Third Concerto, he offers works by Gluck, Haydn, and Salomon. Coaxing crisp, sprightly playing from his Zurich Chamber Orchestra and contributing some impressive cadenzas, Hope offers a lovely collection.
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For February 22, 2018, Daniel Hope: Journey to Mozart is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release'
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Daniel Hope turns his attention to Mozart / WCRB 'CD of the Week'
Posted At : February 19, 2018 12:00 AM
Violinist Daniel Hope has released some ear-catching albums, especially in the past few years. Air - A Baroque Journey, released in 2010, is a staff favorite around our office - it's varied, it's zippy, and it's full of earworms. His vivacious For Seasons, a recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons interspersed with contemporary works and supplementary art pieces, was so popular among our staff that that we featured it both as a WCRB CD of the Week and as one of our picks for best CDs of the Week of 2017.
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In his newest release, Journey to Mozart, Hope brings his signature zippy, precise, and enthusiastic musicianship to core repertoire. As Hope says in the trailer for the album (which you can watch below), "it shows you what Mozart inspired, where he came from, and where he sent people to." Centered around works by Mozart both originally for violin and transcriptions, the album also explores the repertoire of Gluck, Mysliveček, Salomon, and a violin concerto by Haydn.
SEE WCRB: Boston PAGE
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Daniel Hope puts the classical period in context with Journey to Mozart / Violinist.com
Posted At : February 12, 2018 12:00 AM
"For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians, features Violinist Daniel Hope - Journey to Mozart.
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This album aims to put the Classical period in context, with violin concertos by Haydn, Josef Myslivecek, and Mozart, as well as excerpts from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, a Romance by Johann Peter Salomon, and Mozart's Adagio in E and Rondo alla turca, in a new arrangement for orchestra. "I love researching different styles of music," Hope said. "So much of Mozart's music is so modern, so revolutionary that I find it hard to relate the term ‘Classical' to it. We often use the word today to mean old-fashioned, and yet Mozart is anything but old-fashioned. I find the Classical style and period of music history to be fascinating, because it was at this time that composers began to be themselves, to break away from serving kings and princes and gain their independence as artists. We see how the Classical style, governed by the rules of music, became a way of life. It was out of this order that the idea of the brilliant artist was born; it was the beginning of the way we think about music today." BELOW: Excerpts from a special new arrangement of Mozart's Piano Sonata No.11 In A, K.331 -"Alla Turca" - 3. Alla Turca (Arr. For Violin Solo And Chamber Orchestra By Olivier Fourés):
Hope is Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and this year became Artistic Partner of San Francisco's New Century Chamber Orchestra. READ ALL REVIEWS FROM Violinist.com
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Daniel Hope celebrates Mozart's birthday with the New Century Chamber Orchestra / KDFC Radio
Posted At : January 23, 2018 12:00 AM
Violinist Daniel Hope has decided to celebrate Mozart's birthday with the New Century Chamber Orchestra and two (other) soloists: Menahem Pressler, and Sebastian Knauer. They'll play the Piano Concerto no. 23, on a program that includes the 29th Symphony, and Hope playing the third Violin Concerto. They'll give four Bay Area performances (Pressler will play on the birthday itself, on the 27th at Herbst Theatre.)
Hope recently returned to core repertoire with Journey to Mozart, an intimate exploration of Mozart's world comprising both works by the titular composer and pieces by his contemporaries Gluck, Haydn, Mysliveček and Salomon. Performed with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Journey to Mozart features two popular violin concertos by Haydn and Mozart (both in G Major), the famous Adagio in E Major, K. 261 and more.
LISTEN TO THE KDFC: San Francisco SEGMENT
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Daniel Hope receives the ECHO KLASSIK Award for The 'Klassik Ohne Grenzen' Prize (Classical Without Borders)
Posted At : July 27, 2017 12:00 AM
Daniel Hope receives the ECHO KLASSIK Award for The ‘Klassik Ohne Grenzen' Prize (Classical Without Borders). The ECHO KLASSIK trophies will be handed out on Sunday, 29 October 2017 during a gala event in the Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall in Hamburg. All of the artists receiving an ECHO KLASSIK this year have made outstanding contributions to Classical Music in the 2016/17 music year. Their performances have brought audiences closer to numerous works of traditional classical music, but also to so-called New Classics. Whether its brilliant solo artists, collaborating ensembles, global superstars or exciting young newcomers – each of these musicians has helped to foster the extraordinary diversity of classical music and ensured that it continues to reach and inspire people of all ages and social backgrounds on all possible distribution channels.
The ECHO KLASSIK Award ceremony will be held on 29th October in the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. The German public TV channel ZDF will broadcast the evening starting at 10 pm. Once again this year, popular television presenter Thomas Gottschalk will host the ECHO KLASSIK, marking the fourth time overall he acts as master of ceremonies for the event. The names of those award winners who will perform live that evening will be announced shortly.
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Daniel Hope - For Seasons is KUCI 'Featured CD'
Posted At : June 26, 2017 12:00 AM
Violinist Daniel Hope recently received a lot of attention for his work with composer Max Richter who deconstructs familiar classics by incorporating newer aesthetic sensibilities, techniques, and technology. For Seasons, not Four Seasons maintains the tremulous and and assertive elements of the Vivaldi, but new and subtly radical alterations are made both in performance style and in the use electronic instruments. Hope has added 13 more pieces, 12 named after the months of the year and a postscript. These works address a unique feeling for each month and vary widely in style from the hymn "Amazing Grace" to works by Kurt Weill, Bach, Chilly Gonzales, Brahms and Aphex Twin. Classical and Contemporary genre boundaries dissolve in a music of passionate involvement.
SEE ALL OF THIS WEEK's KUCI: IRVINE CA REVIEWS BY MD - HOBART TAYLOR
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WGUC: Cincinnati offering 'Daniel Hope - For Seasons' for upcoming fund drive
Posted At : May 23, 2017 12:00 AM
Concerned with nature's eternal cycle of decline and renewal, Daniel Hope's latest album for Deutsche Grammophon explores the creative relationship between music, art and the ever-changing calendar. For Seasons includes the violinist's first recording of Vivaldi's evergreen collection of seasonal concertos together with a dozen companion works associated with the months of the year. His choice of repertoire reveals the imaginative scope unlocked when composers turn for inspiration to the seasons and evokes our strength of attachment to the landmarks of passing time. Vivaldi's The Four Seasons leads the way in a program that spans everything from venerable compositions by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Johann Melchior Molter and Johann Sebastian Bach to recent works by Aphex Twin, Nils Frahm, Chilly Gonzales and Max Richter.
WGUC: Cincinnati is offering the disc during the upcoming fund drive. Listen to the attached spot
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Daniel Hope - For Seasons is something special / ArtsHub
Posted At : May 22, 2017 12:00 AM
Sometimes the chore of reviewing turns to delight. I have heard recordings and performances of Vivaldi's Four Seasons beyond number, but this one, performed by violinist Daniel Hope with members of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and guests as recorded last year by Deutsche Grammophon, is something special. It is rounded out with a selection of shorter compositions, some of them arrangements by Hope himself.
Daniel Hope is a gifted and intelligent musician with a long history of performing Le quattro stagioni. Immediately noticeable is that his rhetoric is distilled, clear and engaging in every bar. Ornamentation is expressive, historically informed and elegant (particularly in the Largo of La primavera, Adagio of L'estate and the sublime Adagio molto of L'autunno), and the pace of each movement and feeling is thoughtful and attractive (an example being the 90-second Largo – La pioggia(Rain) from L'inverno). Hope's sound and aesthetic is refined, reminding me of the great Itzhak Perlman. As leader of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra since last year, Hope is rewarded by a superbly expressive and refined continuo section in Naoki Kitaya, harpsichord, and Emanuele Forni, theorbo and Baroque guitar. READ THE FULL ArtsHub REVIEW
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Daniel Hope - For Seasons is KDFC: Album of the Week
Posted At : April 17, 2017 12:00 AM
Tune in throughout the week for tracks from KDFC: San Francisco - Album of the Week. For the Week of April 17th, KDFC selects - For Seasons by Daniel Hope. Violinist Daniel Hope's new release For Seasons, (and yes, that's the correct spelling), includes his first-ever recording of the perennial favorite, Vivaldi's Four Seasons, together with a dozen other works inspired by the seasons of the year. In a program that spans everything from Bach and Rameau to Aphex Twin, Chilly Gonzales, and Max Richter, Hope realizes an idea he formulated years ago; to explore the artistic resonances of the seasons in music.
Discover New Music with KDFC's Album of the Week!
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Daniel Hope - For Seasons is IPR: NR of the Week
Posted At : April 17, 2017 12:00 AM
Violinist Daniel Hope's new album, "For Seasons," is inspired by the perennial Vivaldi concerto cycle known as The Four Seasons. Hope began learning the Vivaldi concertos at age 7, performing them live for the first time only six years later. As Hope's career continued to evolve and expose him to new music, The Four Seasons always held a special place in his heart. Finally, after accepting the position as the Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Hope felt ready to record the beloved quartet of concertos. The album includes not only the cycle of four concertos but also a variety of companion pieces that evoke each of the 12 months of the year. "There's a modern message here, which is about the cohesive expression of time and life cycles," Hope said in the album's press release. "Those familiar cycles are being broken left, right and center at present throughout our world. This is my way of marking time: my time and our times."
Daniel Hope - For Seasons is Interlochen Public Radio - New release of the Week for April 17, 2017.
READ THE FULL IPR ARTICLE
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Hope Spring's eternal on - For Seasons / Daily Mail 'Album Of the Week'
Posted At : April 10, 2017 12:00 AM
Daniel Hope is not only one of the most talented musicians of our time, but also one of the most imaginative, seemingly incapable of making a dull or predictable album. This is no exception. The first half is taken up with an eloquent performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, where, as well as contributing some dazzling violin solos, Hope also directs the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, a band of which he is music director.
The second half consists of an eclectic range of music spanning three centuries, each piece representing a month. Here Hope sometimes becomes too clever by half. OK, Kurt Weill's September Song, presented here as a homage to the violinist Stéphane Grappelli, is great for September, and Tchaikovsky's June (from his own Seasons) obviously works for June. But what does Rameau's Dance Of The Savages have to do with February, or a spontaneous jam session with guitarist Dom Bouffard on the hymn tune Amazing Grace have to do with May?
READ THE FULL Daily Mail ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope - For Seasons is WCRB: CD Of the Week
Posted At : April 10, 2017 12:00 AM
Since the inception of recording technology, hundreds of recordings of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons have been captured by one brilliant mind after the next. With so many excellent recordings out there already, how can a soloist bring a fresh approach to the set of four violin concertos? One violinist has managed to do just that: Daniel Hope, Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
There's no way around it – Hope's vivacious yet tenderly emotive performance in "The Four Seasons" alone would make this album one of the best. What makes this album unique, though, is Hope's supplementation of "The Four Seasons" with twelve short works by composers ranging from Rameau to Kurt Weill to Aphex Twin, each a musical depiction of a given month. These dozen pieces are then accompanied by visual art, collectively forming an arc to tell the story of the changing of the seasons.
This concept album had been in the works for over twenty years, and as he writes in a press release, Hope is thrilled that the project has come to fruition:
"The 'For Seasons' idea arose in the early ‘90s as a way of exploring the artistic resonances of the seasons, their power to affect everything from literature and philosophy to painting and music. … This 'For Seasons' project has been swirling in my mind for almost twenty-five years, so I'm delighted that DG has finally made it happen."
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Accompanied by a range of soloists on some tracks and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra on others, Hope has arranged this album to form a complete story. This is one of the most creative and unique presentations of The Four Seasons to date, and though we will play tracks from it throughout the week, it's best enjoyed in its entirety.
SEE WCRB: Boston PAGE & WATCH VIDEO
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In prep for Savannah Music Festival, Daniel Hope Q&A's with DoSavannah
Posted At : March 20, 2017 12:00 AM
Celebrated for his musical versatility as well as his dedication to humanitarian causes, Daniel Hope has been associate artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival since 2004, with his contract recently extended through the 2018 season.
Concerned with nature's eternal cycle of decline and renewal, Hope's latest album for Deutsche Grammophon explores the creative relationship between music, art and the ever-changing calendar. For Seasons includes the violinist's first recording of Vivaldi's evergreen collection of seasonal concertos together with a dozen companion works associated with the months of the year. His choice of repertoire reveals the imaginative scope unlocked when composers turn for inspiration to the seasons and evokes our strength of attachment to the landmarks of passing time. Vivaldi's The Four Seasons leads the way in a program that spans everything from venerable compositions by Jean-Philippe Rameau, Johann Melchior Molter and Johann Sebastian Bach to recent works by Aphex Twin, Nils Frahm, Chilly Gonzales and Max Richter.
Do Savannah caught up with this busy virtuoso as he prepares for the 2017 Savannah Music Festival to discuss Savannah, the mission of the SMF and why funding for the arts is so important to our youth. READ THE Q&A
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Daniel Hope - For Seasons is WFMT: Featured Release
Posted At : March 8, 2017 12:00 AM
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Violinist Daniel Hope presents a personal celebration of the seasons on this new album. His first recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons is complemented by 12 pieces linked to the months of the year, ranging from Bach and Rameau to Aphex Twin and Chilly Gonzales, and conveying the feelings and emotions associated with the changing seasons.
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons: Violin Concerto in E major, Spring (9:18) from Daniel Hope: For Seasons on Deutsche Grammophon is TODAY's WFMT: Chicago Featured Release for Tuesday Match 7. Daniel Hope, violin; Zurich Chamber Orchestra
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Daniel Hope partners with New Century Chamber Orchestra / San Francisco Classical Voice
Posted At : October 11, 2016 12:00 AM
Ever since the announcement by New Century Chamber Orchestra that its music director will leave at the end of the current season, the organization has been faced with Mission Impossible: replacing the irrepressible and - not to mince words - irreplaceable Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. And yet, the news today is of success. Taking the first chair (with some constraints) will be Daniel Hope, a violinist very much in the dynamic mold and with the international fame of Salerno-Sonnenberg. Hope is soloist, recitalist, activist, author, and columnist, and he is well remembered locally for his appearance with New Century in February, when they paid centennial tribute to Hope's mentor, Yehudi Menuhin.
READ THE FULL San Francisco Classical Voice ARTICLE
SEE KQED PAGE
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Play with a Pro - Daniel Hope & Deutsche Gramophon
Posted At : June 29, 2016 12:00 AM
Musical education, just like music itself, should be accessible for everyone: No matter of age, location, race, education, gender or wealth. The internet is the perfect medium for removing boundaries. Play with a Pro is building the ultimate place to not only get better at your instrument, but to get inspired and take your playing to a level you never previously thought possible. A platform to learn music through private live video lessons, live stream events, and recorded tutorials and masterclasses from some of the world's finest and most passionate artists, teachers and musicians around. A platform to help you form practice habits, visualise your progress and meet your goals. A platform to connect with like-minded musical peers and broaden your mindset. A platform to make you into the musician you dreamed of.
Called "adventurous and brilliant" by the New York Times, violinist Daniel Hope has toured the world as a virtuoso soloist for many years. He appears as soloist with the world's major orchestras and conductors, directs many ensembles from the violin, and plays chamber music in a wide variety of traditional and new venues. He was also the youngest member of the Beaux Arts Trio during its final six seasons, and is celebrated for his musical versatility and creativity as well as his dedication to humanitarian causes. Born in South Africa and raised and educated in England, Hope earned degrees at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with distinguished Russian pedagogue Zakhar Bron. A compelling performer whose work involves standard repertory, new music, raga, and jazz, Mr. Hope, emphasizes thoughtful engagement over flamboyant display. In his most personal undertakings, he puts classical works within a broader context – not just among other styles and genres but amid history, literature, and drama – to emphasize music's role as a mirror for struggle and aspiration."
With the support of his label - Deutsche Gramophon, Hope enthusiastically agreed to take Play with a Pro. WATCH THE VIDEO
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Daniel Hope and L'Arte del Mondo play Birmingham Town Hall / Birmingham Post
Posted At : May 19, 2016 12:00 AM
Daniel Hope plays the violin in a business suit and tie. But there's nothing strait-laced about his platform manner. He bobs, he bounces, he bends almost double – turning round to face the members of the L'Arte del Mondo orchestra, nodding, and all the while spinning a rich, glittering stream of notes. He reminded me of someone and when, as an encore, he launched into a funkily re-composed version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons it clicked: Nigel Kennedy. Since both were once protégés of Yehudi Menuhin, maybe that's not entirely coincidental.
In fact, the whole programme was chosen as a 100th birthday tribute to the late Lord Menuhin. L'Arte del Mondo are a spirited bunch who play standing up and make a beefy, buoyant sound despite their sparing use of vibrato. No ‘historically informed' self-denial here, despite the token harpsichord. Two of Mozart's early Salzburg divertimentos, directed by L'Arte del Mondo's leader Werner Ehrhardt, sang and danced as boisterously as if they'd been played by a full symphonic string section rather than just 14 players.
READ THE FULL Birmingham Post REVIEW
SEE The Times Of London REVIEW
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Daniel Hope says: "Yehudi Menuhin always let the student find their own voice" / The Strad
Posted At : May 12, 2016 12:00 AM
The following is an extract from The Strad's Memories of Menuhin article, featuring interviews with friends, family and colleagues of the great violinist and published in the May 2016 issue – download on desktop computer or through The Strad App.
Yehudi Menuhin was the reason I became a violinist. Neither of my parents had a musical background, but my mother was Menuhin's secretary for 24 years and my earliest memories are of being surrounded by music, particularly the violin – whether it was Menuhin playing or one of the many violinists who came to his house. He had a huge collection of musical memorabilia, including Paganini concert posters and portraits, and of course violins. So when I announced, aged four, that I wanted to be a violinist, my parents weren't all that surprised. I remember hearing artists such as Robert Donington and Mstislav Rostropovich at Menuhin's houses – I even recall trying to pull Slava's cello spike out from under him while he rehearsed. I heard Menuhin play alongside Stéphane Grappelli and Ravi Shankar, for whom he had huge admiration, particularly for their ability to improvise, something with which he struggled. He was an inveterate learner as well as an inveterate teacher – constantly searching for answers to life and music. I encountered this side of him first hand after I'd started studying with Zakhar Bron. Menuhin wanted to know all about Bron's teaching, and we talked for several hours, during which he asked me to play for hours – he'd jump in with fascinating insights, suggestions and comparisons.
READ THE FULL Strad ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope remembers Yehudi Menuhin / Minnesota Public Radio
Posted At : April 22, 2016 12:00 AM
One hundred years ago, on April 22, 1916, a legend was born. His name was Yehudi Menuhin and once he picked up the violin, the classical music world was never the same. Violinist and filmmaker Bruno Monsaingeon describes his teacher and friend as "a normal genius" and to honor his legacy, Monsaingeon has compiled a new box set of Yehudi Menuhin's recordings. (You can enter for a chance to win that set here.)
Violinist Daniel Hope was another of Menuhin's mentees, and the recipient of some profound advice. On the issue of practicing, Hope relates that Menuhin once said to him: "One has to play every day. One is like a bird, and can you imagine a bird saying, 'I'm tired today - I don't feel like flying'?"
You can read more of Daniel Hope's touching remembrance, and learn more information on his new recording, My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin, published in The Guardian, and listen to his new DG album - My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin.
SEE THE MPR PIECE
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Daniel Hope's loving homage to Yehudi Menuhin / theguardian
Posted At : April 3, 2016 12:00 AM
The great violinist and educator Yehudi Menuhin was born 100 years ago on 22 April. Daniel Hope, one of his many star pupils, knew him from early childhood, in part because his mother was Menuhin's manager. This mixed repertoire recital, part chamber, part orchestral, draws on Menuhin's own eclectic interests: he gave the world premiere of Mendelssohn's less well-known violin concerto, in D minor, when it surfaced in 1951. Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Violins RV 522 was one Menuhin liked to play alongside pupils. As a boy he met Elgar: Hope plays the delicious salon piece Salut d'amour. There's also Hans Werner Henze, Steve Reich, John Tavener, Enescu, Ravel and Bartók. With help from Christiane Starke (cello), Avi Avital (mandolin) and others, Hope has created a loving homage.
SEE THE FULL guardian PAGE
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In Daniel Hope's Library
Posted At : March 27, 2016 12:00 AM
Growing up with giants - an anti-apartheid activist dad and the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin, a lifelong family friend - shaped Daniel Hope's life. Now 44 and a world-renowned violinist himself, Hope's an active supporter of Live Music Now, which brings music to hospitals and retirement homes and gives young artists a place to shine. "I use music to make a statement," says Hope, whose father co-founded a literary magazine in South Africa before his phones were tapped and the family was forced to flee to Britain. For the next 24 years, Hope's mother worked as Menuhin's secretary. "He's the reason I became a violinist," says Hope, whose new album is titled "My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin."
Here's what's in Daniel Hope's library
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Daniel Hope uncovers dusty letters and compositions for new book - The Sounds of Hollywood / Deutsche Welle
Posted At : March 16, 2016 12:00 AM
Born in South Africa in 1973, Daniel Hope was raised in England. Yet the violinist has long been curious about his Jewish family, which traces its roots back to Berlin. Fifteen years ago, Hope began to dig more deeply into the biographies of Jewish musicians, especially composers of German and Austrian heritage who migrated to Hollywood. The list was long: Friedrich Hollaender, Erich Korngold, Franz Wachsmann, Max Steiner, Werner Richard Heymann.
His original aim was to uncover music pieces for a new CD recording but it quickly became clear that he'd hit upon an entirely new project. Much as a cultural archaeologist might do, Hope delved into the biographies, archives and personal estates of the artists. Curious, he followed the trail of the immigrants through Hollywood, interviewing their children, grandchildren and surviving relatives. Extensive archives at Paramount Studios in Hollywood turned up an unbelievable treasury filled with hand-written correspondence, scored notes, letters.
"I have read a lot about this period. But it's quite different to go into these archives and open old, dusty boxes," Hope said of his time spent with the composers' history. "Suddenly, you're sitting there with Erich Korngold's notes scribbled on a napkin, composing a Viennese Waltz, crossing it out and then recomposing it. You get the feeling at that moment that you've really stepped back in time."
Hope also recorded Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album for Deutsche Grammophon which draws the extensive research into Eric Wolfgang Korngold, Miklós Rózsa, Hanns Eisler, and Franz Waxman to name a few - who fled fascist persecution to relocate to Los Angeles where they penned some of the 20th century's most iconic film scores. Recorded with Alexander Shelley leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and guest artists including vocalists Sting and Max Raabe, Hope's unprecedented new collection juxtaposes examples of the émigré composers' film and concert music with selections by those they influenced – like leading contemporary movie composers John Williams, Ennio Morricone, and Thomas Newman – in a nostalgic search for the quintessentially lavish "Hollywood sound."
READ THE FULL Deutsche Welle ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope and Chamber Music Society mark Menuhin centennial / New York Classical Review
Posted At : March 7, 2016 12:00 AM
Daniel Hope knows how to throw a party. For the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center–and to mark what would have been Yehudi Menuhin's 100th birthday next month–Hope assembled a slate of works by composers connected to the late artist, who died in 1999. There's a strong link between the two violinists: Menuhin taught Hope when he was just nine years old. The program had symmetry: each half began with a Baroque gem (Bach and Vivaldi) and ended with a classic (Mendelssohn and Bartók), with short works from the 20th century in between.
For the Menuhin centennial, the violin legend whose playing Einstein once cited as a reason to believe in God, Hope - the six-time ECHO Klassik Award-winning violinist honors this anniversary by releasing his tenth Deutsche Grammophon recording, titled My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin. Having grown up within the Menuhin household, Hope went on to partner him in more than 60 concert performances, sharing a close association with the older violinist that was truly unique.
READ THE FULL New York Classical Review
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Daniel Hope celebrates his Musical Grandfather - Yehudi Menuin / KUAF Radio
Posted At : March 4, 2016 12:00 AM
"Yehudi Menuin is the reason I became a violinist," confesses Daniel Hope, who takes on his "musical grandfather" in a tribute to the master. Hope fled South Africa in the 1970s along with his parents who settled in London and were nearly broke when Menhuin hired his mother as a secretary.
"Our life changed immediately and forever," says Hope. "For the next years, I grew up in Menuhin's house in Highgate, London, where my mother would take me every day to play, while she worked." The lifechanging experience brought Hope on the trajectory to become the violin star he is today and the tribute album celebrates the glory. Tune in for highlights on Thursday's program coming up at 11 a.m. on KUAF: Fayetteville AR as well as 6 p.m. on KUAF-2.
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Daniel Hope - My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin WFMT: Featured Release
Posted At : February 28, 2016 12:00 AM
April 22, 2016, would have been the 100th birthday of violin legend Yehudi Menuhin, and Daniel Hope dedicates a complete album to his former mentor and close friend. Hope says of him: "Yehudi Menuhin is the reason I became a violinist. Now, in celebration of what would have been his centenary, my friends and I can finally pay our respects to this great man, in a way I am sure he would have loved."
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in D minor from Daniel Hope, violin; Basel Chamber Orchestra - My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin on Deutsche Grammophon is a WFMT: Chicago 'Featured Release.'
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NCCO Celebrates Yehudi Menuhin's Centenary with Daniel Hope / San Francisco Classical Voice
Posted At : February 9, 2016 12:00 AM
Yehudi Menuhin, the great violinist, conductor, and musical humanitarian – who grew up in San Francisco – was born 100 years ago come April 22. The New Century Chamber Orchestra has been celebrating that centenary by presenting a bouquet of works associated with Menuhin, with Daniel Hope as guest concertmaster and principal soloist. The program coming up on Friday, Feb. 5, will be at the First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto.
Hope knew Menuhin from childhood on – they met after Hope's mother was engaged as Menuhin's secretary – and they often performed together. So it's personally appropriate that Hope should be the concert's guide to a Menuhin appreciation. But, though Menuhin was Hope's mentor, he was never his teacher, and their performing styles are different. Menuhin's tone was, if anything, overly mellow, while Hope, 42, plays in the crisper, more strident style common in his generation.
READ THE FULL San Francisco Classical Voice ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope honors Yehudi Menuhin's 100th year anniversary / Toronto Star
Posted At : January 28, 2016 12:00 AM
Violinist Daniel Hope's family was down to their last dollar when his mother got word from an employment agency there was a secretarial job for her. The family had fled South Africa in the mid-1970s over their unpopular anti-apartheid views, landing first in France and then England.
Hope was 2 when his mother Eleanor secured the job with violin superstar Yehudi Menuhin, whom she had heard play in South Africa. She was not musically trained, but she "knew the difference between Beethoven and Bach," so Menuhin hired her. The six-month stint lasted 24 years and improved the lives of all of the Hope family. Hope's writer father collaborated with Menuhin on two books; his older brother moved into arts administration and Hope embarked on an international career as a violinist.
The skills he learned under Menuhin's tutelage will be on display Jan. 28 at a Koerner Hall concert honouring the 100th year since Menuhin's birth.
READ THE FULL Toronto Star ARTICLE
SEE THE SFGate PAGE
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Skyping Audience Member Disrupts Daniel Hope Performance / WQXR
Posted At : November 12, 2015 12:00 AM
The boundary between classical performer and audience member suffered another blow this week when a woman took part in a video call on her mobile device during a performance by violinist Daniel Hope. Hope was performing a private concert in Brussels Tuesday night when the woman received and engaged the call during an encore of Bach music.
Hope wrote about the incident on his private Facebook account. The audience member held up her mobile device while laughing and loudly declared to the caller that Hope was "still playing" and that she could watch through the call.
READ THE WQXR: New York BLOG POST
READ Classicalite ARTICLE
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Vivaldi revamped by Daniel Hope in China / CCTV
Posted At : October 14, 2015 12:00 AM
Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' is the most recorded piece of classical music. So it makes sense to try and shake things up a bit in reinterpreting it. Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla did so in 1965 with his 'Seasons'. But three years ago, German-born British composer Max Richter attempted something altogether more radical with the baroque original.
Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' is the most recorded piece of classical music. So it makes sense to try and shake things up a bit in reinterpreting it. Now, his work is in the hands of British violinist Daniel Hope, who performs both Vivaldi's and Richter's versions on the same night. CCTV reporter Mu Fangzhou spoke to Hope while he was in Beijing last Friday.
It's a rather different take from Max Richter on the Vivaldi melodies that have so saturated our airwaves, whether through TV commercials, elevator music, or even mobile ringtones! "His way to do that was to recompose it, which meant to take the original, and in a sense, to put a new frame on it. So it's a new piece, a new composition, but there are very strong elements of the original, and there's Max Richter's own music in there," he said. READ FULL CCTV ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope wins 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music / The Strad
Posted At : September 3, 2015 12:00 AM
Violinist and Deutsche Grammophon recording artist Daniel Hope is to be awarded the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music on 2 October in Dresden's Frauenkirche. The prize this year celebrates the 25th anniversary of German Reunification.
‘Daniel Hope is a great artist, whose serious and refreshing approach to classical music creates generations of new listeners,' said president of the European Cultural Foundation, Tilo Braune. ‘He builds bridges between different musical worlds and thus stands for tolerance and openness.' The award this year celebrates the 25th anniversary of German Reunification.
READ THE FULL Strad ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope@Bristol Proms - Tchaikovsky vs. Brahms / Watch the Classicfm video
Posted At : July 28, 2015 12:00 AM
He's a Bristol Proms veteran, and for his third appearance at the festival violinist Daniel Hope was keen to explore one of the biggest beefs in classical music history - that between Tchaikovsky and Brahms, neither of whom were shy of the odd slanging match.
With the help of his own hand-picked ensemble and an on-stage actor, Hope's third Bristol Proms show is a full-on ding-dong - works by each of the composers are played out of sequence and pitted directly against one another... but who comes off best? Hope spoke to Classic FM's Jane Jones before he took to the Bristol Old Vic stage.
WATCH THE Classicfm VIDEO
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Why Violinist Daniel Hope Calls Himself A Musical Activist / Colorado Public Radio
Posted At : July 22, 2015 12:00 AM
LISTEN TO THE Colorado Public Radio INTERVIEW with Daniel Hope.
Here's part of the transcript - Classical violinist Daniel Hope calls himself a musical activist. He collaborated on "Terezin," a album of music by composers who died during the Holocaust. He released another disc, "Escape to Paradise," in 2014 to explore music by Jewish composers who fled Europe and wrote film music in Hollywood during the 1940s. And he works with Live Music Now, a charity that sends musicians out of the concert hall to connect with listeners -- including students with special needs and hospital -- in their communities.
The violinist spoke with CPR Classical about his recordings and career while preparing for a concert at Aspen Music Festival and School. Hope, an astronomy buff who released a collection of celestial-themed music in 2013, also talked about how the recent photos from Pluto delighted him.
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Daniel Hope tours Europe this summer with Vivaldi Recomposed / WMOT Radio
Posted At : June 19, 2015 12:00 AM
The centerpiece of Daniel Hope's summer is Vivaldi Recomposed, Max Richter's vivid 21st-century reimagining of The Four Seasons. It was the British violinist for whom Richter composed the work, and the subsequent Deutsche Grammophon recording was named iTunes' Best U.S. Contemporary Classical Album of 2012 and scored Hope a sixth ECHO Klassik Award. Now Hope takes Richter's creation on two European tours with Werner Ehrhardt and his period orchestra L'arte del mondo (June 21–23 & Aug 27–30), besides reuniting with two more of the work's original performers – conductor André de Ridder and Richter himself on keyboards and electronics – for a reprise at this year's Edinburgh Festival, where they will be joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Aug 24). Hope also returns to a number of his favorite summer haunts. At the Bristol Proms, where he has been a favorite since making hit appearances in each of its first two seasons, he examines the fierce rivalry between 19th-century masters Tchaikovsky and Brahms (July 27), and at both the Aspen Music Festival (July 17) and Germany's Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele (June 27), where he previously served as Artistic Director, Hope plays Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto under the baton of Paavo Järvi. His DG recording of the work, for which he undertook intensive study of the composer's 1844 urtext, prompted The Times of London to declare: "Hope's playing is a joy – technically impeccable but still passionate, singing and mercurial." READ THE FULL WMOT Radio ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope to replace Sir Roger Norrington as Music Director of Zurich Chamber Orchestra / Gramophone
Posted At : April 29, 2015 12:00 AM
Violinist Daniel Hope will succeed Sir Roger Norrington as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZKO) from 2016. Under Norrington, who became the Music Director in 2011, the orchestra have made recordings for Sony Classical of Haydn's 'Paris' Symphonies, Mozart's Serenade No 5 and Divertimento No 10 (read the review), and Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks and L'Histoire du Soldat Suite (read the review). For Berlin Classics Norrington and the ZKO recorded piano concertos by CPE, JC and JS Bach with soloist Sebastian Knauer
READ THE FULL Gramophone ARTICLE
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CMS plays thrilling concert@Library of Congress / The Washington Post
Posted At : April 13, 2015 12:00 AM
The high value placed on emotional intensity by the romantics played out to a thrilling degree Friday when four all-stars from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center brought a program of 19th-century piano quartets to the Library of Congress.
One could luxuriate in an abundance of blazing passion and melody. The downside is that, cut from such similar, echt-romantic cloth, the pieces can sound alike, especially when played with such supercharged gusto by pianist Wu Han, violinist Daniel Hope, violist Paul Neubauer and cellist David Finckel. SEE Tom Huizenga's FULL Washington Post PIECE.
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Madison Symphony highlights classic film music exiles with Daniel Hope / Wisconsin Gazette
Posted At : February 27, 2015 12:00 AM
In the 1930s, Europe's loss of artists and intellectuals fleeing the rise of Nazi persecution and anti-intellectualism proved to be America's gain. Some of the greatest contributions to American culture came in the form of Hollywood film scores, with European exiles raising the symphonic standard of movie music for generations of film fans to come.
The Madison Symphony Orchestra will showcase the works of three better-known artists in its Composers in Exile: Creating the Hollywood Sound concert series. Classical and cinematic compositions by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Miklós Rózsa and Franz Waxman fill the playlist March 6-8 at Madison's Overture Center.
Maestro John DeMain will conduct the three performances, with violinist Daniel Hope performing Korngold's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Major. The March concerts will be Hope's first time performing with MSO, and he says he's delighted by the program that has been chosen, both for its musicality and as a way to educate audiences unfamiliar with the composers and their contributions. "I particularly love vintage Hollywood film music, especially the scores by the European exiles such as Korngold, Waxman and Rózsa," Hope said in an email interview from his home in the U.K. "These three composers also wrote a number of serious works, but only really Korngold is acknowledged today in this field." READ THE FULL Wisconsin Gazette ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope Returns to Savannah Music Festival as Associate Artistic Director
Posted At : February 23, 2015 12:00 AM
This violinist, now among the best in the world as well as the most thoughtful, is as brilliant at Bach as Birtwistle." - The Observer
This spring, violinist Daniel Hope returns to Georgia for his 12th season as Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival (March 19–April 4), which commissions and stages original, one-time only productions, collaborations and premieres over a three-week period each year. Under Hope's co-direction, it has been credited by the Chicago Tribune with "breaking the sound barriers" and is considered "one of the top music festivals in the world" (USA Today). The British violinist has curated a 10-concert chamber series for SMF 2015 that brings friends and colleagues from across North America and Europe to Savannah. As part of the popular "Daniel Hope & Friends" series, his collaborators will include the Emerson String Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Savannah Philharmonic, which the violinist will join for the Mendelssohn concerto (March 21).
READ THE FULL WMOT RADIO ARTICLE
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Daniel Hope - Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album / WQED: CD Spotlight
Posted At : February 9, 2015 12:00 AM
Classical BRIT-Award-winner Daniel Hope's new recording, Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album, draws on Hope's extensive research into European composers - among them Eric Wolfgang Korngold, Miklós Rózsa, Hanns Eisler, and Franz Waxman to name a few - who fled fascist persecution to relocate to Los Angeles where they penned some of the 20th century's most iconic film scores. Released on Deutsche Grammophon, the CD was recorded with Alexander Shelley leading the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and guest artists including vocalists Sting and Max Raabe, Hope's unprecedented new collection juxtaposes examples of the émigré composers' film and concert music with selections by those they influenced – like leading contemporary movie composers John Williams, Ennio Morricone, and Thomas Newman – in a nostalgic search for the quintessentially lavish "Hollywood sound."
Hope, also known as 'The British violinist' was lauded by New York Times as having a "thriving solo career. One which has been built on inventive programming and a probing interpretive style." Daniel Hope - Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album / WQED: Pittsburgh - CD Spotlight.
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Daniel Hope - Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album / New Classical Tracks
Posted At : January 21, 2015 12:00 AM
Listen to Julie Amacher's New Classical Tracks interview. New Classical Tracks is a Syndicated feature airing Nationally on PRI: Classical 24 & Statewide on Minnesota Public Radio. READ THE TRANSCRIPT BELOW
Maybe like me, you love to escape by watching a good film. Violinist Daniel Hope believes that on many levels, Hollywood is the quintessence of escape.
After spending 15 years studying and exploring composers who didn't escape the Holocaust, on his latest release, Escape to Paradise, Daniel Hope takes a closer look at those who did. And for many of these composers, Hollywood was their escape and their exile. Daniel says this whole idea hits very close to home. His parents escaped South African apartheid and moved to Great Britain, after his grandparents had escaped Hitler from Berlin and lived in exile in South Africa.
"My maternal grandparents were living in Berlin in the 1930s," Daniel says. "They were kicked out of Berlin because of their Jewish heritage. And my grandfather was a lighting designer, a lighting engineer under Max Reinhardt. And Max Reinhardt offered him the chance to go to Hollywood with him in 1934 where he was going to do the Midsummer Night's Dream at Hollywood Bowl and then make the movie. But he'd been beaten up by Nazis on the streets in Berlin and he said he wanted to go as far as possible away from Germany. America was not far enough, so he chose South Africa.
"So this idea of escape and displacement has always played a strong role in my family, certainly for the last century. And on the album I wanted to, on the one side, show some of this music that these composers had created. But I also wanted to look at the development and creation of the so-called Hollywood sound and try to find out more about it - where it came from, what's left of it today, and to examine the journey it has taken over these 100 or so years.
"It's really amazing to think that there is a whole generation of music that was wiped out by the Nazis, that does not exist, at least officially, in our list of, let's call it '20th century music'. This whole era. And with the Hollywood composers, I find it equally fascinating because they were in this mindset of looking to the future. If you look at Korngold, the kinds of pieces he was writing in the 1920s and '30s, they were extremely ahead of their time. And yet when he arrived in Hollywood, the requirement was this big, symphonic music. So, in a sense he was sent back in his development. And yet Hollywood gave him such a fantastic opportunity at the same time. Not just an opportunity to write music, but also to save many of his relatives. And Korngold said, 'I will compose film music until Hitler is gone.' And the minute Hitler was gone, he sat down and wrote the Violin Concerto."
Erich Korngold's Violin Concerto was not initially well received. Over time, Daniel says it has earned the respect it deserves.
"'More Korn than Gold,' of course, is the famous quote that one of the critics gave as a pan after the performance, which I think is terribly, terribly unfair," Daniel says. "It's also interesting that people say it sounded like film music. I think it's actually the other way around - film music sounds like Korngold. And that's the role of Korngold in Hollywood, as with Max Steiner. I see them as the two great pioneers of the Hollywood sound - [and] let's not forget Waxman. As far as the Violin Concerto is concerned, of course the great Jascha Heifetz is the one who championed it and pioneered it. And yet then it went through a kind of lull for a certain period of time until Itzhak Perlman picked it up and did phenomenal recordings of it.
"The fact that the concerto is dedicated to Alma Mahler, to his old days of Vienna … there is very much this nostalgic feeling in the concerto, and the orchestration from beginning to end is absolutely masterful."
There's a big brass fanfare near the end of the third movement of this concerto, which Daniel says you may recognize for more than one reason. "That's a paraphrase from the film King's Row - a 1948 film, if I recall correctly. And that is almost exactly the same phrase that John Williams uses in Star Wars. There is a direct lineage somehow in this music: John Williams studied with Castelnuovo-Tedesco, another one of these exiled Hollywood composers. He was one of the reasons I had to have him on the CD, quite apart from the fact that I love his music. Schindler's List - this idea of escape which accompanies the album was very intrinsic."
There are also several chamber music arrangements on Escape to Paradise that caught my ear, including a piece titled, "Reminiscences from Franz Waxman's film, Come Back, Little Sheba."
"Waxman's music is so beautiful," Daniel says. "He was a master of styles - almost chameleon-like in styles, where he could adopt any style at a moment's notice. And yet the signature and the way in which he approached it were done with such wonderful technical means. This particular arrangement was one that had already been done - all the other arrangements on the album we actually made specifically. But this is one, Mr. Waxman Jr. told me about and sent to me. And as often with this music, I find, it has an element of nostalgia, an element of looking back."
Escape to Paradise is filled with nostalgia that will no doubt stir memories for you, just as it has for Daniel Hope. "I think being able to immerse oneself in this time - that, for me, is the greatest joy. Whether that was in the recording studio or discovering new pieces or having contact with the second generation. Both the son and daughter of Miklos Rosza wrote to me. I was able to interview people from that time who are still alive. I was granted access to Paramount Studios and their archives and was able to find manuscripts by Korngold that had not seen the light of day in 70, 80 years. I would say it was a combination of things. It was being able to find out more about a time that I find so fascinating. Being a film addict, it was also fantastic for me to go back and watch some of these glorious films in their over-the-top eccentric way in which they were made and yet they have such fantastic emotion and vision.
"And then also a connection to my grandfather, who could quite possibly have gone with Max Reinhardt. He decided not to, but he could have gone to Hollywood. He might have been there. And so that brought me, in a sense, closer to him."
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Daniel Hope wins Special Edison Prize
Posted At : November 4, 2014 12:00 AM
The Edison Foundation in the Netherlands has awarded Daniel Hope a Special Edison Prize. This prize honors musicians who have achieved great success and salutes their ground-breaking approach. The Edison Ceremony will take place as part of the Buma Classical Convention on Saturday, November 29th at TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, where Hope will perform works from his latest DG album - Escape to Paradise with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under Markus Stenz. The concert will be broadcast the following day, November 30, by NPO2.
READ THE FULL Edison Foundation FEATURE HERE
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Daniel Hope - Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album / KDFC 'CD Of the Week'
Posted At : September 15, 2014 12:00 AM
The versatile British violinist, Daniel Hope, shines a new light on Hollywood scores in his latest CD, which seeks out the "echoes of exiled European composers" who escaped to Hollywood during the 30's. Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album includes music of Miklos Rozsa, Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Ennio Morricone, John Williams, and others. Sting contributes a track as well.
For the Week of September 15, Daniel Hope - Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album is KDFC - San Francisco 'CD of the Week.' Tune in to hear the tracks.
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Daniel Hope - Escape to Paradise / WFMT ' New Release Of the Week'
Posted At : September 14, 2014 12:00 AM
In his latest album, Daniel Hope shines a new light on Hollywood scores, seeking out the echoes of exiled European composers such as Miklós Rózsa, Franz Waxman, Hanns Eisler, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and more. The centerpiece is the famous Violin Concerto by Korngold. The album also contains contemporary soundtrack classics such as Schindler's List, American Beauty, and Cinema Paradiso to reflect on the strong musical influence the exile-composer had and still has on contemporary film composers.
Daniel Hope: Escape to Paradise on 'Deutsche Grammophon' is the WFMT - Chicago: NEW RELEASE OF THE WEEK.
Airing:
Rózsa: Ben Hur: Love Theme (3:03)
Daniel Hope, violin; Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra / Alexander Shelley
Heymann: Ein blonder Traum: Irgendwo auf der Welt (3:23)
Daniel Hope, violin; Quintet of the Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin
Hupfeld: As Time Goes By (2:51)
Daniel Hope, violin