Daniel Hope in 2025–26: four Bay Area tours with New Century Chamber Orchestra; German tour with Zurich Chamber Orchestra; Salzburg Mozart Week; new curatorial roles at Wolf Trap & Gstaad; more

(September 2025) — Switzerland-based violinist Daniel Hope, whose “thriving solo career” is “built on inventive programming and a probing interpretive style” (The New York Times), is active on both sides of the Atlantic this season. As Music Director and Concertmaster of San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra, he leads the ensemble on four Bay Area tours, with programs featuring the world premieres of three new commissions. He also gives three spring chamber concerts in the States, while European highlights include the final concert of Salzburg’s 270th anniversary Mozart Week and a busy lineup as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, including New Year’s Eve concerts in Lucerne with Thomas Hampson and a nine-city German tour. To complete this full transatlantic season, Hope launches major new curatorial roles at Virginia’s Wolf Trap and Switzerland’s Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy.

Bay Area tours with New Century Chamber Orchestra

San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra (NCCO) is one of the world’s few conductorless ensembles. Since becoming its Music Director and Concertmaster in 2018, Hope and the NCCO have won praise in a wide range of repertoire. A live all-Mozart program induced “thrills and chills” (San Francisco Classical Voice), while their recording of new commissions prompted Strings magazine to marvel:

“I can’t speak highly enough of Hope’s solo abilities and of New Century as a model of professionalism and unwavering advocacy of contemporary music. For those in search of inspiration – or just looking to stimulate the mind – Music for a New Century beckons.”

Earlier this year, Hope appeared with a quintet from NCCO on Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney, the live weekly Netflix talk show, and this season he leads the orchestra from the violin on four Bay Area tours. At concerts in Berkeley (Oct 30), Vallejo (Oct 31), San Francisco (Nov 1), and Belvedere Tiburon (Nov 2), he undertakes the solo roles in both Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Dawn by Gramophone Award-winning Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova, whose “glowing tonal harmonies and grand, sweeping gestures convey a huge emotional depth” (The Strad). Joined by the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Hope and the NCCO then return to Berkeley (Dec 11), Belvedere Tiburon (Dec 12), and San Francisco (Dec 13) for seasonal selections by Elgar, Rutter, Britten, Jake Heggie, Nico Muhly, and others.

Next spring, they give the world premieres of new NCCO commissions from two San Francisco composers: Jake Heggie, Musical America’s Composer of the Year 2025, and Nathaniel Stookey, best-known for The Composer Is Dead, one of the 21st century’s most performed works. At concerts in Berkeley (March 13), San Francisco (March 14), and Belvedere Tiburon (March 15), the two new compositions share a program with Haydn’s “Trauer” Symphony and – with Hope as soloist – the Second Violin Concerto by French polymath Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges.

At concerts in Rohnert Park (April 23), Berkeley (April 24), and San Francisco (April 25), Hope and the orchestra complete their season in collaboration with Pablo Sáinz-Villegas, “the global ambassador of Spanish guitar” (Billboard magazine), who joins them for guitar concertos by Joaquín Rodrigo and six-time Grammy winner Michael Daugherty. These share a program with music for strings by Argentina’s Alberto Williams and “new tango” master Astor Piazzolla, together with the world premiere of a new piece, commissioned by the NCCO from Henry Dorn, “a composer we should hear more from” (Chicago Classical Review), through the Emerging Black Composers Project.

New Wolf Trap position and spring chamber concerts in U.S.

Hope returns to the States for three chamber concerts next spring. His collaborations with cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han have been called “exceptionally sympathetic” (Classics Today), and the three reunite in Kansas City for piano trios by Haydn, Beethoven, and Dvořák (March 6). Two days later, Hope inaugurates his new Wolf Trap appointment as Artistic Advisor for Chamber Music at The Barns, in which he succeeds Wu Han (March 8). Presented in partnership with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the season-long Virginia series brings world-class soloists and ensembles to the rustic venue.

These appearances bookend Hope’s return to Chamber Music Detroit for an evening of Dvořák with the Garth Newel Piano Quartet, featuring his account of the “Indian Lament” from the Czech composer’s Sonatina in G (March 7).

New role at Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy

On November 1, Hope succeeds Christoph Müller as Intendant & Artistic Director of Switzerland’s Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy, where he will preside over its 70th anniversary next year. He was unanimously elected to the role after an extensive selection process, in view of his deep musical associations with Gstaad and the late Yehudi Menuhin, and of his 21 years of curatorial experience. Following previous positions at the Savannah Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and Essen Philharmonie, he currently serves as Artistic Director of the Frauenkirche Dresden and President of the Beethoven House in Bonn. As Gramophone writes: “There are few figures in today’s classical music who so perfectly embody the role of ambassador for music as Daniel Hope.”

German tour & more with Zurich Chamber Orchestra

The 2025–26 season marks Hope’s ninth with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZCO), where he succeeded Sir Roger Norrington as Music Director in 2016. Their rapport is such that “Hope and his Zurich players respond to each other like chamber musicians” (The Strad). To kick off the new season, he leads the conductor-less ensemble from the violin in an Opening Night concert in the Tonhalle Zurich. After favorites for strings by Vaughan Williams and Respighi, versatile principal cellist Nicola Mosca – also a prize winner at Munich’s International Harp Competition – joins them as harp soloist in both Debussy’s Danses sacrée et profane and Bernstein’s Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium” (Sep 30).

At Germany’s Frauenkirche Dresden, where his tenure has been extended through 2031, Hope and the orchestra give a holiday program of traditional Christmas carols and works by Mendelssohn, Weill, and Cole Porter. This features Grammy-winning American baritone Thomas Hampson (Dec 3), with whom they reunite in Lucerne for a pair of festive, all-American New Year’s Eve concerts (Dec 31 & Jan 1).

Back in Zurich, Hope is the soloist in concertos by Mozart and Bologne, alongside Haydn and Mozart symphonies and the “Dance of the Furies” from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (Jan 27). He and the orchestra subsequently embark on an extensive and high-profile German tour. Their Classical program is the vehicle for performances in Berlin (Feb 3), Cologne (Feb 4), Hannover (Feb 6), Frankfurt (Feb 7), Hamburg (Feb 9 & 10), and Stuttgart (Feb 14), while all-American evenings of Price, Copland, Gershwin, Weill, Ellington, and Bernstein take them to Freiburg (Feb 12), Mannheim (Feb 13), and Munich (Feb 15). Hope and the ZCO conclude their season together at the Tonhalle, where, alongside works by Elgar and Virgil Thomson, he is the soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (June 4).

Salzburg Mozart Week, world premiere, & more

Beyond Gstaad and the ZCO, Hope remains active in Europe. Early next year, he headlines the final concert of the 270th anniversary edition of the annual Mozart Week Festival in Salzburg, where he joins José Antonio Méndez Padrón and the Havana Lyceum Orchestra for two concertante works by the Classical master (Feb 1). Other European highlights include performances of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto with the Prague Symphony under Tomáš Netopil (Oct 8 & 9) and Britten’s Concerto with Poland’s NFM Wrocław Philharmonic under Christoph Eschenbach (Feb 27); a special collaboration with actor Sebastian Koch at the Frauenkirche Dresden (Dec 17); and a rendition of Hope’s signature “Irish Roots” program in Bern, Switzerland (March 22).

Daniel Hope: 2025–26 engagements

Sep 30
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle Zurich
Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Music Director)
Opening Night concert
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
RESPIGHI: Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite No. 3
DEBUSSY: Danses sacrée et profane (with Nicola Mosca, harp)
BERNSTEIN: Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium” (with Nicola Mosca, harp; Hope, violin)

Oct 8 & 9
Prague, Czech Republic
Municipal House
Prague Symphony Orchestra / Tomáš Netopil
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1

Oct 30–Nov 2: Bay Area concerts with New Century Chamber Orchestra (Music Director & Concertmaster)
   Oct 30: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
   Oct 31: Vallejo, CA (Empress Theatre)
   Nov 1: San Francisco, CA (Herbst Theatre)
   Nov 2: Belvedere Tiburon, CA (St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church)
Dobrinka TABAKOVA: Dawn for violin, cello, and strings (with Hope, violin; Evan Kahn, cello)
DVOŘÁK: Serenade for Strings in E
VIVALDI: The Four Seasons (with Hope, violin)

Dec 3
Dresden, Germany
Frauenkirche Dresden
Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Music Director)
Traditional Christmas carols and works by MENDELSSOHN, WEILL, and Cole PORTER (with Thomas Hampson, baritone)

Dec 11–13: Bay Area concerts with New Century Chamber Orchestra (Music Director & Concertmaster)
   Dec 11: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
   Dec 12: Belvedere Tiburon, CA (St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church)
   Dec 13: San Francisco, CA (St. Mark’s Lutheran Church)
“In Winter’s Glow”
RUTTER: Suite for Strings
ELGAR: Serenade for Strings
VIVALDI: Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, RV 580
Ola GJEILO: Northern Lights
TRAD. (arr. RUTTER): selected carols
BILLINGS: Bethlehem
BRITTEN: A Wealden Trio
David CONTE: Two Winter Scenes
Jake HEGGIE: Selections from On the Road to Christmas
Nico MUHLY: Whispered and Revealed
(With San Francisco Girls Choir)

Dec 17
Dresden, Germany
Frauenkirche Dresden
“Paradise – A musical reading”
Works by DEBUSSY, SCHULHOFF, and BACH with excerpts from the Bible, Koran, and works by Goethe, Nietzsche, Rumi, Jelinek, Brecht, and others
(With Sebastian Koch, reader)

Dec 31 & Jan 1
Lucerne, Switzerland
Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Music Director)
New Year’s Eve concert
COPLAND: “Hoe-Down” from Rodeo
BERNSTEIN (arr. for violin & strings by Paul BATEMAN): “America” from West Side Story Suite (with Hope, violin)
Jessie MONTGOMERY: Starburst
PRICE (arr. for violin & strings by Paul BATEMAN): Adoration (with Hope, violin)
FOSTER (arr. for violin, baritone, & strings by Paul BATEMAN): Beautiful Dreamer (with Hope, violin; Thomas Hampson, baritone)
ARLEN (arr. for violin, baritone, & strings by Paul BATEMAN): medley (with Hope, violin; Thomas Hampson, baritone)
HERRMANN (arr. for violin, piano, percussion, & strings by Paul BATEMAN): Vertigo-Suite (with Hope, violin; Johannes von Ballestrem, piano; Dimitri Monstein, percussion)
WEILL (arr. for violin, baritone, & strings by Paul BATEMAN): medley (with Hope, violin; Thomas Hampson, baritone)
GERSHWIN (arr. for violin, jazz trio, & strings by Paul BATEMAN): Song Suite (with Hope, violin)

Jan 16 & 18
   Jan 16: Bielefeld, Germany (Rudolf-Oetker-Halle)
Jan 18: Essen, Germany (Philharmonie)
WDR Funkhaus Orchestra / David Brophy
Concert celebrating ten years together on WDR3 Persönlich
(With Goetz Alsmann, vocals and moderation)

Jan 27
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle Zurich
Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Music Director)
“Mozart: Passion”
MOZART: Symphony No. 51
GLUCK: “Dance of the Furies” from Orfeo ed Euridice
BOLOGNE: Violin Concerto in A
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 1
HAYDN: Symphony No. 49, “La Passione”

Feb 1
Salzburg, Austria
Mozarteum
Havana Lyceum Orchestra / José Antonio Méndez Padrón
Concert Salzburg Mozart Week
MOZART: Violin Concerto in G, KV 216
MOZART: Rondo in B-flat for violin and orchestra
BOLOGNE: Sinfonia concertante No. 2 (with Jenny Peña Campo, violin)

Feb 3–15: German tour with Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Music Director)
   Feb 3: Berlin (Konzerthaus)
   Feb 4: Cologne (Philharmonie)
   Feb 6: Hannover (NDR Konzerthaus)
   Feb 7: Frankfurt (Alte Oper)
   Feb 9: Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie)
   Feb 10: Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie)
Feb 14: Stuttgart (Liederhalle)
“Mozart: Passion”
MOZART: Symphony No. 51
GLUCK: “Dance of the Furies” from Orfeo ed Euridice
BOLOGNE: Violin Concerto in A
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 1
HAYDN: Symphony No. 49, “La Passione”
Feb 12: Freiburg (Konzerthaus)
Feb 13: Mannheim (Rosengarten)
   Feb 15: Munich (Prinzregententheater)
“America”
BERNSTEIN: West Side Story Suite
GERSHWIN: Summertime
Works by COPLAND, WEILL, PRICE, and ELLINGTON

Feb 27
Wroclaw, Poland
Wroclaw Concert Hall
NFM Wrocław Philharmonic / Christoph Eschenbach
BRITTEN: Violin Concerto

March 6
Kansas City, KS
Chamber concert with Wu Han, piano; David Finckel, cello
HAYDN: Trio in A, HOB.XV:18
BEETHOVEN: Trio in E-flat, Op. 1, No. 1
DVOŘÁK: Trio in E minor, “Dumky”

March 7
Detroit, MI
Chamber concert Garth Newel Piano Quartet
DVOŘÁK: “Indian Lament” from Sonatina in G for violin and piano
DVOŘÁK: Piano Quintet

March 8
Vienna, VA
Wolf Trap
Chamber concert with Wu Han, piano; David Finckel, cello
HAYDN: Trio in A, HOB.XV:18
BEETHOVEN: Trio in E-flat, Op. 1, No. 1
DVOŘÁK: Trio in E minor, “Dumky”

March 13–15: Bay Area concerts with New Century Chamber Orchestra (Music Director & Concertmaster)
   March 13: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
   March 14: San Francisco, CA (Presidio Theatre)
   March 15: Belvedere Tiburon, CA (St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church)
“Radiance”
Jake HEGGIE: new work (world premiere of NCCO commission)
BOLOGNE: Violin Concerto No. 2
Nathaniel STOOKEY: new work (world premiere of NCCO commission)
HAYDN: Symphony No. 44 “Trauer”

March 22
Bern, Switzerland
Zentrum Paul Klee
“Irish Roots”
Traditional Irish music; works by ROSEINGRAVE, PURCELL, OSWALD, O’CAROLAN, and others
With AIR Ensemble

March 27
Dresden, Germany
Dresden Frauenkirche
Solo recital

April 23–25: Bay Area concerts with New Century Chamber Orchestra (Music Director & Concertmaster)
   April 23: Rohnert Park, CA (Green Music Center)
   April 24: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
   April 25: San Francisco, CA (Presidio Theatre)
“Radiance in Rhythm”
PIAZZOLLA: Fuga y misterio (version for strings)
Henry DORN: new work (world premiere of new NCCO commission as part of the Emerging Black Composers Project)
Michael DAUGHERTY: Bay of Pigs (with Pablo Sáinz-Villegas, guitar)
WILLIAMS: Suite No. 1 for Strings
RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez (with Pablo Sáinz-Villegas, guitar)

May 28
Wiesbaden, Germany
Kurhaus
Details TK

June 4
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle Zurich
Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Music Director)
ELGAR: Serenade for Strings
THOMSON: Cantabile for strings
VIVALDI: The Four Seasons (with Hope, violin)