SEA & MUSIC

The British violinist Daniel Hope has enjoyed a flourishing international solo career for more than 35 years. Celebrated for his musical versatility and humanitarian commitment, he has been honored with numerous awards, including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Culture Prize for Music in 2015. In addition to solo recitals, chamber performances, and collaborations with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, Hope also directs several ensembles. In 2016, he succeeded Sir Roger Norrington as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and, two years later, became Music Director of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco. Since 2007, Hope has been an exclusive artist with Deutsche Grammophon, boasting an award-winning discography. He is also a popular radio and television host, notably presenting the acclaimed streaming and TV series Hope@Home during the pandemic. In 2019, he concluded his 16th and final season as Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival in Georgia and became Artistic Director of the Dresden Frauenkirche. In 2020, Hope followed in the footsteps of Kurt Masur and Joseph Joachim as President of the Beethoven House in Bonn. Beginning November 1, 2025, he will assume the role of Artistic Director and General Manager of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, founded by Yehudi Menuhin and Benjamin Britten.

A flourishing solo career… built on inventive programming and a probing interpretive style.” – The New York Times

Hope first gained international attention as the youngest member of the Beaux Arts Trio, with which he performed more than 400 concerts over six seasons. Today, he is a familiar presence on the stages of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals — from New York’s Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House, from Aspen and Tanglewood to Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein (where he was Featured Artist in 2023), and the BBC Proms in London. He collaborates with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Jurowski, Iván Fischer, and Christian Thielemann, as well as with the world’s leading orchestras, including those of Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tokyo.

It was Hope who premiered and made the first recording of the critically revised version of Berg’s Violin Concerto. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, he has also commissioned more than 30 new works, collaborating closely with such distinguished composers as Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies, Tan Dun, Sofia Gubaidulina, György Kurtág, Krzysztof Penderecki, Max Richter, Tōru Takemitsu, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Alfred Schnittke — whose music for violin and piano was the focus of Hope’s 2021 Deutsche Grammophon release.

Hope is one of the most prolific artists in classical music, having recorded more than 30 albums. His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the German Record Critics’ Award, the Diapason d’Or of the Year, the Edison Classical Award, and the Prix Caecilia. His recent Deutsche Grammophon releases include DANCE!, which traces the history of Western dance from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, and Irish Roots, inspired by his desire to explore and express elements of his own musical DNA.

Hope has also recorded Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Octet with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, hailed by The New York Times as one of the year’s best recordings; Berg’s Violin Concerto, chosen by Gramophone magazine as “the first choice among all available recordings”; Belle Époque, which unites popular and classical rarities from pre–World War I Europe; Journey to Mozart, pairing the composer’s Third Concerto with works by his predecessors and contemporaries; Spheres, featuring world premiere recordings of four works written for Hope; Escape to Paradise, based on his extensive research into the European composers who helped shape the Hollywood sound; and Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed, which topped the charts in 22 countries and remains one of the best-selling classical releases in recent years. More recently, he released Hope, recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring new arrangements of Ariel Ramírez’s Misa Criolla alongside timeless works by Schubert, Elgar, and Pärt, as well as America, celebrating 35 years of American music with guest artists the Marcus Roberts Trio.

In response to the war in Ukraine, Hope and Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov released the benefit EP Music for Ukraine, featuring works by Ukrainian composers Myroslav Skoryk and Valentin Silvestrov. In 2023, Botvinov joined Hope and the New Century Chamber Orchestra to record an album marking the ensemble’s 30th anniversary, featuring pieces by Tan Dun, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Jake Heggie, as well as world premiere recordings of music by Philip Glass.

“The most exciting British string player since Jacqueline du Pré.” – The Observer (UK)

As an artist who uses his platform to engage across a wide range of fields, Hope has authored four bestselling books, all published by Rowohlt Verlag in Germany. He writes regularly for The Wall Street Journal and has initiated interdisciplinary collaborations with artists such as Klaus Maria Brandauer, Mia Farrow, Sebastian Koch, Iris Berben, and Sting, among others. In Germany, he has hosted a weekly radio program on the WDR3 channel since 2016 and curates and presents Hope@9pm, a salon-style music and talk event featuring cultural and political guests at the Konzerthaus Berlin. As he recounted in a full-page feature in The Guardian, during the pandemic he created and hosted Hope@Home, a livestream series conceived as “DIY TV” for socially distanced times. Professionally produced for the Franco-German broadcaster ARTE, the series was broadcast and streamed daily and provided 

the violinist and his many guests — including Lang Lang, Sir Simon Rattle, Christian Thielemann, and Robert Wilson — the opportunity to stay connected with their audiences from his living room in Berlin. Together with its follow-up editions Hope@Home on Tour!, Hope@Home – Next Generation, and Europe@Home, the series featured more than 400 musicians across 150 episodes, was streamed nearly eleven million times, and raised thousands of euros to support artists in need.

A documentary titled Daniel Hope – The Sound of Life was released in cinemas across North America, Australia, and Europe in 2017, while Celtic Dreams: Daniel Hope’s Hidden Irish History aired in spring 2022 on ARTE and American Public Radio. The series continues with Hope on the Road – Visiting Hollywood, an upcoming TV documentary in which the violinist explores Hollywood’s history and the stories of the exiled composers who fled Nazi Germany and helped shape the iconic Hollywood sound. In 2024, a new documentary by Hope will celebrate the 30th anniversary of freedom in South Africa.

Daniel Hope was educated at London’s Highgate School and the Royal Academy of Music. He studied violin with Zakhar Bron and Itzhak Rashkovsky and worked closely with his mentor Yehudi Menuhin, performing numerous concerts with him around the world. Today, Hope lives in Switzerland with his family and performs on a 1742 Guarneri del Gesù, generously on loan to him.