Daniel Hope’s 2022-23: Silvestrov Album with Alexey Botvinov on DG (Sep 30), Multimedia 30th Anniversary Concerts with New Century Chamber Orchestra (Sep 16–18), Much More
photo: Daniel Hope (photo: Daniel Waldhecker)
(September 2022)—On September 30, violinist Daniel Hope, lauded by San Francisco Classical Voice as a “master violinist and ‘musical activist’ in perpetual motion,” follows up his Music for Ukraine EP, released this past spring, with a full-length album on Deutsche Grammophon of the music of Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov. Recorded with Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov, the new album was made in collaboration with the 84-year-old composer himself, and includes the world premiere of his Pastorales 2020. Also this season, Hope leads San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra, of which he has been Music Director since 2018, in four sets of performances, plus a European tour, celebrating the ensemble’s 30th anniversary. Their season opener is Berlin 1938: Broadcasts from a Vanishing Society, a musical radio drama featuring vocalists Thomas Hampson and Horst Maria Merz playing both radio broadcasters and singers. The violinist also looks forward to presenting a series of “Winter’s Tale” Christmas concerts at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, leading the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZCO), of which he is also Music Director, in three sets of European concerts during the season and a North American tour in the spring; and filming his second documentary with the French/German ARTE network in November. Hope has also just been named the Featured Artist for 2023 of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, where he will program 50 concerts throughout the calendar year to celebrate his 50th birthday.
Silvestrov album on DG (Sep 30)
Hope has been collaborating for eight years with Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov, who serves as Artistic Director of the Odessa Classics Festival, and released an album of the music of Alfred Schnittke with the pianist last fall. For the 2020 festival in Odessa, they had the idea of commissioning a work from Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, and in his capacity as President of Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Hope suggested the piece be related to Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony in honor of that composer’s 250th anniversary year. The result was Silvestrov’s Pastorales 2020, but because of the pandemic the whole piece has never been performed live. Hope and Botvinov then decided to record an entire album of Silvestrov’s music, and planned a trip to Kyiv in March 2022 for that purpose. The Russian attack intervened, forcing Botvinov to leave the country with his family, and they quickly pivoted to presenting benefit concerts in Germany and recording the Music for Ukraine EP. Silvestrov himself was able to escape the country after Kyiv was bombed, taking refuge in Berlin and finally allowing Hope and Botvinov’s album of his music to come to fruition. As well as the world premiere of Pastorales 2020, the album includes the “Chopin-Augenblicke” from his Zwei Stücke, the three miniatures of 25.X.1893…zum Andenken an P.I. Tschaikowskij, and the Hommage à J.S.B. Hope explains:
“Alexey and I had organised a performance in aid of Ukraine at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, one of the most symbolic places in Germany. We heard Silvestrov had just arrived in the city and reached out to him. He came to the concert and we played that night for him. Performing his music for this cause, with him sitting in the front row, was a deeply moving experience. … Silvestrov got up spontaneously and made an angry, impassioned speech, which was simultaneously translated from Russian to German. … Then, suddenly, he put the microphone down and walked to the piano. He sat down, saying he would play a piece of music which he had envisaged while he was escaping from Ukraine. This unbelievable beauty, almost a bouquet of sound, came out in direct contrast to his fearsome speech. … I’d always been attracted to Silvestrov’s music. But when you place it in the context of that concert and the images we had been seeing on television! … It changes the way you think, play and breathe this music. It certainly feels different having recorded it now, both natural and painful at the same time.”
Bay Area tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
Appointed in 2018 as Music Director of San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra, one of the world’s few conductorless ensembles, Hope leads the group as it opens its 30th anniversary season with Berlin 1938: Broadcasts from a Vanishing Society, a musical radio drama that the violinist originally conceived for the Verbier Festival. The imminent war in 1930s Europe inspired the era’s songwriters to create works reflecting the rapid changes in German society and growing threats of violence. Performed in an enlarged version in San Francisco’s historic Presidio Theatre, New Century’s multimedia production is a musical tour of works by Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Hanns Eisler, and many more, with vocalists Thomas Hampson and Horst Maria Merz in the dual roles of radio broadcasters and singers (Sep 16–18).
For their second set of concerts in the season, Hope and New Century present a selection of music from iconic films (Jan 19–22). Repertoire includes Bernard Herrmann’s music from Hitchcock’s Vertigo and selected film music by Ennio Morricone, both arranged by Paul Bateman; Gershwin’s American in Paris arranged by Clarice Assad; and the Double Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Orchestra with Percussion by Tan Dun – who won an Oscar for his score to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – featuring Hope and Botvinov as soloists. After performances of the program in San Rafael, Berkeley and San Francisco, there is an additional performance at Bing Concert Hall on the Stanford University campus, where Botvinov gives the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in place of the Tan Dun double concerto. Co-commissioned by New Century, Glass’s concerto will also be recorded at Bing to be featured on a May 2023 DG release consisting entirely of New Century commissions.
In February, Hope and New Century present a program titled “Sparkling Connections” along with the San Francisco Girls Chorus under the leadership of Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe (Feb 10–11). The chorus performs songs by Lili Boulanger, Debussy and Schubert, as well as selections from Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and the spring-themed program also includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 49, “La Passione,” and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-flat with Hope as soloist. The first performance is at Berkeley’s First Congregational Church, and the second, minus the Humperdinck, at Sonoma State University’s Green Music Center.
Hope and New Century present their fourth and final set of concerts for the season before setting off on their second European tour – ten concerts across Germany in June 2023 – with a program titled “Points of Origin” that features tenor Nicholas Phan (May 11–14). Two works explore America’s identity as a melting pot: Jessie Montgomery’s Banner, a reimagining of the U.S. national anthem; and the world premiere of the orchestral version of Nico Muhly’s Stranger (co-commissioned by New Century and Palaver Strings), a song cycle that reflects on the American immigrant experience. The world premiere of British composer Hannah Kendall’s …I may turn to salt, based on a text by British-Ethiopian poet Lemn Sissay, is also on the program, as well as Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. For the La Jolla Music Society performance on May 12, the Vaughan Williams, Kendall and Muhly works will be replaced by Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed.
“Winter’s Tale” at Elbphilharmonie
Hamburg’s spectacular Elbphilharmonie opened in 2017 and immediately became a favorite destination for international performers. The series of “Ein Wintermärchen” (A Winter’s Tale) concerts presented in December have become a popular Advent tradition at the venue since then, and this season Hope presents a program of songs, festive music and anecdotes along with soprano Fatma Said, trumpeter Lucienne Renaud Vary, German actress Katharina Thalbach and Daniel Geiss conducting the Belgrade Chamber Orchestra (Dec 22–26).
“Hope on the Road” Documentary
This past spring saw the release of Celtic Dreams: Daniel Hope’s Hidden Irish History, a TV documentary made in collaboration with the French/German television network ARTE that followed the violinist as he explored Ireland, Irish music and his own family roots. In November, Hope continues that collaboration with another “Hope on the Road” documentary, visiting Hollywood to chart the story of the Hollywood Exile composers who escaped Nazi Germany and helped to create the Hollywood Sound. As well as interviewing survivors and their heirs, Hope will also speak to some of today’s prolific film composers including Thomas Newman and Benjamin Wallfisch.
Zurich Chamber Orchestra
Now in his seventh season as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Hope joins the ensemble for three sets of European concerts in October, December and April, the latter preceded by the ZCO’s second North American tour (March 17–April 2).
Four generations of composers born on the British Isles provide the program for the season opener in Zurich in October. William Walton’s Sonata for String Orchestra was originally commissioned by Sir Neville Marriner in 1971, and Benjamin Britten‘s Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge from 1937 is a tribute to his first composition teacher. Also on the program is a string sextet arrangement of Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending, Britten’s Two Portraits for strings and Edward Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro (Oct 4). The same program is heard the night before in Chur, Switzerland, and the orchestra subsequently performs music of Vaughan Williams and Elgar along with Mieczysław Weinberg’s Concertino for violin and strings in Erlangen, Germany and at Dresden’s Frauenkirche, where Hope has been Artistic Director since 2019 (Oct 7 & 8).
In December, Hope and the ZCO perform a program in the series “Homage to Wolfgang Rihm,” produced in collaboration with Zurich Opera. The German composer’s 2013 string quintet, Epilogue, which he dedicated to his longtime friend and companion Hans-Peter Jahn during Jahn’s last year as artistic director of the Eclat Festival in Stuttgart, will be heard alongside Schubert’s late “Death and the Maiden” string quartet, performed in a version for string orchestra by Gustav Mahler. The program is rounded out by a string orchestra arrangement of Schubert’s Five German Dances, as well as his Rondo for violin and string orchestra in A major.
In April, following ZCO’s second North American tour, Hope and the orchestra are joined by violinist Sebastian Bohren for concerts in the Swiss cities of Zurich and Brugg and a return to Dresden’s Frauenkirche (April 25–28). A new work by Swiss composer Martin Wettstein is performed on the program along with music of Mozart, Pärt, Schnittke and Grieg.
Featured Artist at Schleswig-Holstein Festival 2023
Finally, it has just been announced that in 2023 Hope will be the Featured Artist at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the largest classical music festival in the country. To celebrate the violinist’s 50th birthday year, 50 concerts will be programmed, and for the first time in its history the residency will take place not only during the festival period in July and August but for the entire 2023 calendar year, from January to December. Marking the largest retrospective of Hope’s collaborative work to date, the concerts will include a new commission, music and spoken word, chamber music and youth workshops. Performers will include the NCCO and ZCO, students from the Hope Academy, and the Festival Orchestra led by Christoph Eschenbach.
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Daniel Hope: 2022-23 engagements
Sep 16, 17 & 18
San Francisco, CA
Presidio Theatre
New Century Chamber Orchestra
Berlin 1938: Broadcasts from a Vanishing Society
Daniel Hope, Music Director and concertmaster
With Thomas Hampson and Horst Maria Merz, vocalists
Works by GOODMAN, SCHULHOFF, EISLER, SCHULZE, RAVEL and more
Sep 23–27
Tour of Germany and Austria with Staatsphilharmonie
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1
Sep 23: Koblenz, Germany
Sep 24: Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany
Sep 25: Weingarten, Germany
Sep 27: Villach, Austria
Oct 3
Chur, Switzerland
Zurich Chamber Orchestra
BRITTEN: Two Portraits for String Orchestra
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
WALTON: Sonata for string orchestra
BRITTEN: Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10
ELGAR: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47
Oct 4
Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich Chamber Orchestra
Season Opening Concert
BRITTEN: Two Portraits for String Orchestra
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
WALTON: Sonata for string orchestra
BRITTEN: Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10
ELGAR: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47
Oct 7
Dresden, Germany
Frauenkirche Dresden
Zurich Chamber Orchestra
ELGAR: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
ELGAR: Serenade
WEINBERG: Concertino for violin and strings, Op. 42
Oct 8
Erlangen, Germany
Zurich Chamber Orchestra
ELGAR: Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
ELGAR: Serenade
WEINBERG: Concertino for violin and strings, Op. 42
Oct 9
Erlangen, Germany
SCHNITTKE: Suite in the Old Style
SCHNITTKE: Sonata No. 1 for violin and piano
Valentin SILVESTROV: Pastorales 2020
Jake HEGGIE: New work
Oct 15
Wroclaw, Poland
NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra / Joseph Swensen
WEINBERG: Concertino for violin and strings, Op. 42
Oct 17
Budapest, Hungary
With Péter Nagy, piano; Claudio Bohórquez, cello
DVOŘÁK: Rondo in G minor, Op. 94
DVOŘÁK: Silent Woods, Op. 68/5
DVOŘÁK: Sonatina for violin and piano in G, Op. 100
KREISLER: Slavonic Fantasy on themes by Dvořák
DVOŘÁK: Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90 (‘Dumky’)
Oct 21
Athens, Greece
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No.1
Nov 8
Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich Chamber Orchestra
Mercy Ships benefit concert
With Ryszard Groblewski, viola
DVOŘÁK: Romance for violin and orchestra in F minor, Op. 11
MOZART: Divertimento in D, K. 136 (“Salzburger Sinfonie No. 1”)
MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat for violin, viola and orchestra, KV 364
BARTÓK: Divertimento for string orchestra
Nov 9
Dresden, Germany
Frauenkirche
Commemorating the Night of Broken Glass
With Tatjana Masurenko, viola; Ib Hausmann, clarinet; Amatis Trio
MENDELSSOHN: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49, MWV Q 29
MOZART: Clarinet Quintet in A, K. 581
Nov 24
Munich, Germany
Prinzregententheater
Irish Program
Dec 8
Sofia, Bulgaria
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra / Nayden Todorov
ELGAR: Violin Concerto
Dec 11
Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich Chamber Orchestra
“When can I clap?”
MOZART: Mvmts I & III from Divertimento in D, K. 136 (“Salzburger Sinfonie No. 1”)
GRIEG: Prelude from Holberg Suite, Op. 40
GERSHWIN: “I Got Rhythm” from Song Suite for violin, jazz trio and strings (arr. Bateman)
SINDING: II. Adagio from Suite in the Old Style in A minor, Op.10
ELGAR: I Allegro piacevole from Serenade in E minor, Op. 20
John RUTTER: I. A-roving from Suite for string orchestra, based on British folk melodies
MENDELSSOHN: III: Allegro from Violin Concerto in D minor
Dec 13
Zurich, Switzerland
Zurich Chamber Orchestra
With Willi Zimmermann, violin; Daria Zappa Matesic, violin; Ryszard Groblewski, viola; Nicola Mosca, cello; Anna Tyka Nyffenegger, cello
SCHUBERT: Five German Dances for string quartet, D 90 (arr. for string orchestra)
Wolfgang RIHM: Epilogue for string quintet
SCHUBERT: Rondo in A, D. 438 for violin and string orchestra
SCHUBERT: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”), arr. for string orchestra by Gustav Mahler
Dec 14
Dresden, Germany
AIR Program
Dec 22, 25, 26
Hamburg, Germany
Elbphilharmonie
“Ein Wintermärchen” (A Winter’s Tale) Christmas Concert
With Fatma Said, soprano; Lucienne Renaud Vary, trumpet; Katharina Thalbach, recitation; Belgrade Chamber Orchestra / Daniel Geiss
Jan 19–22
Bay Area Tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
“Cinematic Escapes”
With Alexey Botvinov, piano
HERRMANN: Vertigo Suite (arr. Bateman)
Tan DUN: Double Concerto for Violin and Piano (Jan 19–21)
Philip GLASS: Piano Concerto No. 3 (Jan 22 only)
MORRICONE: Selections from film scores for The Mission, Cinema Paradiso, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
GERSHWIN: An American in Paris Suite (arr. Clarice Assad)
Jan 19: San Rafael, CA (Osher Marin JCC)
Jan 20: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
Jan 21: San Francisco, CA (Herbst Theatre)
Jan 22: Stanford, CA (Bing Concert Hall)
Feb 3
Mels, Switzerland
Verrucano Mels, Kultur & Kongresshaus
With Jacques Ammon
America recital
Feb 10–11
Bay Area Tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
“Sparkling Connections”
With San Francisco Girls Chorus, Valérie Sainte-Agathe, Artistic Director
L. BOULANGER: “Les sirènes”
DEBUSSY: “Salut Printemps”
SCHUBERT: “Ständchen,” D. 920
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-flat, K. 207
HAYDN: Symphony No. 49 in F minor, (“La Passione”)
HUMPERDINCK: Selections from Hansel and Gretel (Feb 10 only)
Feb 10: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
Feb 11: Penngrove, CA (Green Music Center at Sonoma State University)
Feb 26
Muenster, Germany
AIR Program
Feb 28
Aarau, Switzerland
Kultur & Kongresshaus
With Jacques Ammon
America recital
March 1
Rheinfelden, Switzerland
Bahnhofsaal
With Jacques Ammon
America recital
March 3
Düsseldorf, Germany
Düsseldorf Deutsche Oper
Paradise Program with Sebastian Koch
March 17–April 2
Zurich Chamber Orchestra North American Tour
March 17: Ann Arbor, MI (Hill Auditorium, University Musical Society)
March 19: West Palm Beach, FL (Kravis Center for the Performing Arts)
March 21: New Brunswick, NJ (State Theater)
March 23: Savannah, GA (Lucas Theater for the Arts)
March 25: Costa Mesa, CA (Segerstrom Center for the Arts)
March 26: Berkeley, CA (Zellerbach Hall)
March 31: Troy, NY (Troy Music Hall)
April 2: Fairfax, VA (George Mason University)
April 21
Waiblingen, Germany
AIR Program
April 25–28
Tour with Zurich Chamber Orchestra
Sebastian Bohren, violin
MOZART: Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546
Arvo PÄRT: Tabula rasa
SCHNITTKE: Concerto grosso No. 3
Martin WETTSTEIN: New work
GRIEG: Holberg Suite, Op. 40
April 25: Zurich, Switzerland
April 26: Brugg, Switzerland
April 28: Dresden, Germany
May 11–14
Bay Area tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
“Points of Origin”
With Nicholas Phan, tenor
Jessie MONTGOMERY: Banner for string quartet and strings
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (May 11, 13 & 14)
BRITTEN: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op. 10
Hannah KENDALL: …I may turn to salt (world premiere, commissioned by the Schleswig-Holstein Festival) (May 11, 13 & 14)
Nico Muhly: Stranger for tenor and strings (May 11, 13 & 14)
Max RICHTER: Vivaldi Recomposed (May 12 only)
May 11: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
May 12: La Jolla, CA (La Jolla Music Society)
May 13: San Francisco, CA (Herbst Theatre)
May 14: San Rafael, CA (Osher Marin JCC)
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