Daniel Hope (violinist)


Daniel Hope is a British-Irish classical violinist.

Early life and education

Hope was born in Durban, South Africa, and is of Irish and Jewish German descent, his maternal grandparents, formerly from Berlin, having escaped Nazism. His father is the novelist Christopher Hope, FRSL, and his mother Eleanor Hope worked as an assistant to Yehudi Menuhin. At age six months, his family moved from South Africa to London, because of his father's anti-apartheid views. In the UK Hope was educated at Highgate School and studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Stoke d'Abernon. In 2011 he was appointed Visiting Professor in Violin by the Royal Academy of Music, where he had studied under Zakhar Bron and gained a diploma and a fellowship.

Career

Hope became the violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio in 2002. His burgeoning career led to his decision to leave the Beaux Arts Trio, which in turn led to the decision to disband the ensemble. The Beaux Arts Trio, with Hope as the final violinist in the history of the ensemble, gave its final concerts in August 2008.
Hope has served as an associate artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival. In April 2015 he was named the new music director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, effective in 2016. On 16 March 2018, at the conclusion of a joint performance by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and New Century Chamber Orchestra at which he served as concertmaster, Hope was announced as the latter ensemble's new music and artistic director.
Hope plays the 1737 Guarneri "ex-Lipinski" violin. He presented the 2013 documentary film The Secrets of the Violin, which explored the history of violin making from Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri to modern makers like Samuel Zygmuntowicz.
He has recorded commercially for Deutsche Grammophon.
Hope and were the presenters for the Eurovision Young Musicians 2016 in Cologne, Germany on 3 September 2016.

Personal life

Hope is in his second marriage to the painter Silvana Kaiser. The couple lived in Vienna and moved to Berlin in 2016. He holds Irish nationality.

Awards