Tomorrow, March 25: Daniel Hope launches “Hope at Home”
Daniel Hope (right) with pianist-composer Christoph Israel, who will be joining him regularly throughout the series (photo: ARTE)
Tomorrow (Wednesday, March 25), Daniel Hope – “one of the most charismatic violinists in the world” (Classic FM, UK) – launches Hope at Home, a new television series for our socially distanced times. Professionally produced by Kobalt Productions for Europe’s ARTE television network, the series comprises 14 half-hour episodes of live musical performance by leading classical artists, interspersed with English and German talk. Over the next two weeks, Hope at Home will stream live, daily, at 1pm EDT (10am PDT; 6pm Berlin CET) on the ARTE Concert website, where each episode will then be archived for 90 days, and on Deutsche Grammophon’s YouTube channel, where selected highlights will subsequently be available. Click here to see a video trailer for Hope at Home.
As Hope recognizes, livetreamed music offers an invaluable lifeline as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, especially to those in need of comfort and entertainment. In addition it enables performers to stay connected with their audience. The professional format of Hope at Home represents livestreaming at its best, combining the special intimacy of world-class home music-making with the high-quality audio experience without which classical music cannot ultimately thrive. Hope explains:
“We need to and must stay home at this time. But we also need to share music as a source of comfort and inspiration. I hope this livestream, with high quality recorded sound, will go some way to fulfilling this.”
For this unique series, the violinist has converted his own 1895 Belle Epoque living room into a fully-equipped television studio, complete with remote cameras and microphones. The sound will be recorded by renowned engineer Tobias Lehmann of Teldex Studios. Besides performing himself, Daniel Hope looks forward to featuring well-known artists living in Berlin, including Max Raabe, Albrecht Mayer, Christoph Israel, Sarah Willis and actor Sebastian Koch (Homeland, The Lives of Others), who will all perform and talk about what music means to them at this time. There will be live interaction with the viewing audience on Twitter, with Hope responding to questions, and sometimes even taking musical requests, in real time.
All safety measures will be observed in accordance with the current laws and recommendations of the Federal Republic of Germany. No more than two artists will perform together at any one time, and they will always take care to keep at least two meters (about 6 feet) between them. Using remote cameras, members of the film crew will be safely dispersed on different floors.
About Daniel Hope
Born in South Africa and resident in Berlin, British violinist Daniel Hope believes in breaking down the barriers that separate individuals, communities and nations. Since making his name as the youngest member of the Beaux Arts Trio, he has turned his focus to his solo career, performing with the world’s major orchestras and conductors and directing many ensembles from the violin, besides playing chamber music in a wide variety of new and traditional venues. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, Hope is a four-time Grammy nominee with more than 25 albums to his name. In 2016-17, he succeeded Roger Norrington as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. Last season he launched his tenure as Music Director of San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra, returned for his 16th and final season as Associate Artistic Director of Georgia’s Savannah Music Festival, and became Artistic Director of the Dresden Frauenkirche, which he considers not only a place of worship but also a symbol of peace, reconciliation, and tolerance. Since March 2020 he has also served as President of the Beethovenhaus Bonn, an honorary position whose predecessors include Kurt Masur and Joseph Joachim. A musical activist who engages in many musical and social areas, Hope has presented a weekly radio show on Germany’s WDR3 public station since 2016, besides publishing four books and hosting his own concert-lecture series at the Berlin Konzerthaus. His achievements have been recognized with a string of honors including the European Culture Prize for Music (2015) and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2017).
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© 21C Media Group, March 2020