Daniel Hope’s winter/spring 2025: three sets of performances with New Century Chamber Orchestra, including U.S. debut of “DANCE!” program; “Journey to Mozart” tour in U.S. with Polish Chamber Orchestra of Sinfonia Varsovia, much more

(January 2025) — Daniel Hope, one of the world’s most sought-after violinists and musical personalities, is Music Director of both the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZCO) and the San Francisco-based New Century Chamber Orchestra, and as of November 1, 2025 will become Intendant & Artistic Director of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy in Switzerland, as the festival prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2026. This winter and spring, Hope focuses on performances in the U.S., giving three sets of performances with New Century and touring his “Journey to Mozart” program to four destinations in Florida, Georgia, and Colorado with the Polish Chamber Orchestra of Sinfonia Varsovia (Feb 23–March 2). In January, Hope and New Century feature pianist Inon Barnatan and trumpeter Brandon Ridenour as guest soloists in Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1 for piano, trumpet and strings, along with music of C.P.E. Bach and Bartók (Jan 17–19). In April, they present the West Coast premiere of A Prayer for Peace by Jungyoon Wie, on a program with music of Richard Strauss and Adolphus Hailstork (April 4–6); and in May they present the U.S. debut of Hope’s “DANCE!”program, tracing the history of Western dance from medieval times to the present day in four Bay Area performances (May 1–4), culminating at Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall.

New Century Chamber Orchestra

Hope and New Century are joined by pianist Inon Barnatan – “one of the most admired pianists of his generation” (The New York Times) – and American Brass Quintet trumpeter Brandon Ridenour in January for a program titled “Musical Diversions.” Opening with a keyboard concerto by C.P.E. Bach, the program also includes Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1 for piano, trumpet and strings and Bartók’s Divertimento for String Orchestra (Jan 17–19).

In April, Hope and New Century give the West Coast premiere of a piece they co-commissioned with A Far Cry chamber orchestra: Jungyoon Wie’s A Prayer for Peace, concerto grosso for string orchestra. The program also includes Adolphus Hailstork’s Sonata da Chiesa for String Orchestra and Richard Strauss’s late Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings (April 4–6).

The U.S. debut of Hope’s “DANCE!” program draws his New Century season to a close with performances in four California locations: Berkeley (May 1), Belvedere Tiburon (May 2), San Francisco’s Presidio Theatre (May 3), and Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall (May 4). The “DANCE!” program is documented on a recently released double album on Deutsche Grammophon that offers almost two hours of dance music from around the world, in styles that range from Baroque opera and Russian ballet to klezmer, tango and swing. Hope’s in-depth research and creative curation are evident throughout the album, which sees early European works like the Lamento di Tristano, preserved in a 14th-century Tuscan manuscript, rub shoulders with Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” performed as a homage to the jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli, whom Hope met at the home of his childhood mentor, Yehudi Menuhin. Other works range from Offenbach’s instantly recognizable “Galop infernal (Can-can)” to Mozart’s lesser-known Rondo for Violin and Orchestra, heard with a cadenza by Hope himself. Personal favorites are also included, like Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre and Erwin Schulhoff’s “Alla Tarantella.” Folk dance-inspired compositions by Brahms, Leó Weiner and Bartók; “Ticklin’ Toes,” the last of Florence Price’s Three Little Negro Dances; Bizet’s “Farandole”; Schubert’s Deutsche Tänze; Ravel’s Habanera; the “Rigaudon” from Handel’s Water Music, and many more complete the album.

“Journey to Mozart” tour

One of the works from Hope’s “DANCE” program, Wojciech Kilar’s Orawa, is featured alongside violin concertos and symphonies by both Haydn and Mozart, as well as Gluck’s “Dance of the Furies” from Orfeo, in Hope’s “Journey to Mozart” performances in Florida, Georgia, and Colorado with the Polish Chamber Orchestra of Sinfonia Varsovia (Feb 23–March 2). Repertoire for these performances is derived from Hope’s 2018 Deutsche Grammophon release by the same name, one of six albums to date, including DANCE!, on which the violinist is partnered by the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, where he is in his ninth season as Music Director.

Other performances

Another recent Deutsche Grammophon release was Irish Roots, which was a follow-up to Hope’s documentary Celtic Dreams: Daniel Hope’s Hidden Irish History, aired nationwide on PBS stations in 2022. Hope performs his “Irish Roots” program this winter – with a chamber ensemble that includes a second violin, cello/harp, lute/Baroque guitar, harpsichord, and percussion – in Waiblingen, Germany (Jan 29). The following day, Hope goes to the Konzerthaus Berlin for this winter’s installment of the series of programs called “Hope@9pm,” a salon for music and conversation for which he is joined by his regular accompanist, pianist Jacques Ammon. Mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter is the featured guest (Jan 30). Finally, Hope gives two performances at the end of the season in Barcelona, joining the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and conductor Salvador Mas for Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto “To the Memory of an Angel,” composed after the 18-year-old daughter of Walter Gropius and Berg’s friend and patron Alma Mahler died of polio (May 24, 25). Composed in the year of Berg’s death, the score was never corrected by the composer; a critical edition was finally made in the 1990s by Professor Douglas Jarman, and it premiered in Vienna in 1996 with Hope as soloist. The violinist also made the first recording of that version, in 2004 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Paul Watkins, and it was voted the “top choice of all available recordings” by Gramophone magazine.

Daniel Hope: winter/spring 2025 engagements

Jan 17–19
Bay Area tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
“Musical Diversions”
Inon Barnatan, piano
Brandon Ridenour, trumpet
C.P.E. BACH: Keyboard Concerto No. 3 in D minor
SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor for piano, trumpet and strings
BARTÓK: Divertimento for String Orchestra
Jan 17: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
Jan 18: Rohnert Park, CA (Green Music Center)
Jan 19: San Francisco, CA (Presidio Theatre)

Jan 29
Waiblingen, Germany
Bürgerzentrum – Ghibellinensaal
“Irish Roots”
AIR Ensemble:
Simos Papanas
Nicola Mosca
Emanuele Forni
Markellos Chryssikos
Michael Metzler

Jan 30
Berlin, Germany
Konzerthaus Berlin
“Hope@9pm”
Jacques Ammon, piano
Guest: mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter

Feb 23–28; March 2
U.S. tour with Polish Chamber Orchestra of Sinfonia Varsovia
“Journey to Mozart”
Daniel Hope, violin & music director
GLUCK: “Dance of the Furies” from Orfeo ed Euridice
HAYDN: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in G
KILAR: Orawa (except Feb 23)
MOZART: Symphony No. 15 in G
MOZART: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 3 in G
HAYDN: Symphony No. 49 in F minor, “La Passione”
Feb 23: Vero Beach, FL (Community Church of Vero Beach)
Feb 24: West Palm Beach, FL (Kravis Center)
Feb 28: Atlanta, GA (Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts)
March 2: Beaver Creek, CO (Vilar Performing Arts Center)

April 4–6
Bay Area tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
“A Prayer for Peace”
Adolphus HAILSTORK: Sonata da Chiesa for string orchestra
Jungyoon WIE: A Prayer for Peace, concerto grosso for string orchestra (West Coast premiere; co-commission with A Far Cry)
STRAUSS: Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings
April 4: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
April 5: San Francisco, CA (St. Mark’s Lutheran Church)
April 6: Belvedere Tiburon, CA (St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church)

May 1–4
Bay Area tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
“DANCE!”
Program highlights:
HANDEL: Selections from Water Music Suite
TCHAIKOVSKY: “Pas de deux” from Swan Lake
OFFENBACH: “Can-can” from Orpheus in the Underworld
SCHUBERT: Five German Dances
SAINT-SAËNS: Danse macabre
May 1: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
May 2: Belvedere Tiburon, CA (St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church)
May 3: San Francisco, CA (Presidio Theatre)
May 4: Stanford, CA (Bing Concert Hall)

May 8
Berlin, Germany
Konzerthaus Berlin
“Hope@9pm”
Jacques Ammon, piano
Guest: TBA

May 24, 25
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra
Salvador Mas, conductor
BERG: Violin Concerto “To the Memory of an Angel”