Violinist Daniel Hope Hosts Christmas@Home 2022 – Special TV Show Featuring Sting – Before Leading U.S. Tours with Zurich Chamber Orchestra & New Century Chamber Orchestra, Now Celebrating Its 30th Anniversary
Daniel Hope with Sting (courtesy of Christmas@Home 2022)
(December 2022)—During the first European lockdown, Daniel Hope launched Hope@Home, “a hugely successful show” that “resurrected the art of the house concert” (The Guardian). Now the violinist heads back to his Berlin living room for Christmas@Home 2022 (Dec 11). Featuring 17-time Grammy Award-winning artist Sting, this special episode of the hit TV-and-streaming series airs on ARTE TV over the holidays, which also see Hope host a popular seasonal concert series at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie (Dec 22–26). In the new year, he returns to the States for tours with both of the conductorless ensembles of which he is Music Director: he leads the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZCO) on an extensive U.S. tour with a program of Mendelssohn, Elgar and Max Richter (March 17–April 2) and celebrates the New Century Chamber Orchestra (NCCO)’s 30th anniversary season with three Bay Area tours. Each NCCO tour has its own thematic program and artistic collaboration: Hope and the orchestra join pianist Alexey Botvinov for “Cinematic Escapes” (Jan 19–22), the San Francisco Girls Chorus for “Sparkling Connections” (Feb 10–12) and tenor Nicholas Phan for “Points of Origin” (May 11–14). This characteristically full winter and spring also sees the violinist continue work on Hope on the Road – Visiting Hollywood, his upcoming TV documentary, and celebrate his own 50th birthday with 50 concerts as Festival Artist for 2023 of Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. As the San Francisco Classical Voice puts it, Hope is a “master violinist and ‘musical activist’ in perpetual motion” who “gives both Zurich Chamber Orchestra and New Century reasons to be (and pardon the pun) hopeful indeed.”
Christmas@Home 2022: holiday TV show featuring Sting
A protégé of Yehudi Menuhin, Hope spent much of his childhood in the older violinist’s home, where he first met Sting, the iconic musician whose honors include 17 Grammy Awards, five Emmys, four BRITs, three Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe. Hope explains: “Sting is a phenomenal musician. I’ve known him since I was a boy, when he happened to buy Menuhin’s house in London, the house in which I practically grew up.” The two went on to record and perform on a number of occasions: Hope was a guest on Sting’s album If on a Winter’s Night and Sting sings new, original lyrics to a song by Hanns Eisler on Hope’s 2014 album Escape to Paradise.
Launched in March 2020 during the first European lockdown and subsequently recognized with the 2020 Czech Crystal Prize, Hope@Home combined high-quality audio with the intimacy and immediacy of live, world-class home music-making, allowing the violinist – and his numerous distinguished guests – to stay connected with their audiences once the concert halls went dark. Together with its sequels, the show featured more than 400 musicians in 150 episodes on Europe’s ARTE TV, where it was streamed almost eleven million times, raising thousands of Euros for artists in need.
Now, for a special holiday edition of the series, Hope reunites with Sting for “Fields of Gold” and “The Snow It Melts the Soonest,” a traditional English folksong for which they will be joined by Sting’s longtime musical partner, Argentinian-British guitarist Dominic Miller. Other artists include South African soprano Golda Schultz and the young members of the Leonkoro Quartet, who perform repertoire ranging from classical, pop and jazz to new takes on Christmas carols. Christmas@Home 2022 premieres on ARTE TV this Sunday, December 11, after which it will be available for on-demand streaming for the next 90 days. Click here to watch a preview of Christmas@Home 2022.
Holiday concert series at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie
While in Germany for the holidays, Hope hosts the popular Advent series “Ein Wintermärchen” (“A Winter’s Tale”) at Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. In two or three concerts each day – the original run having been more than doubled to meet popular demand – he presents a program of songs, stories and festive music with soprano Fatma Said, trumpeter Lucienne Renaudin Vary, German actress Katharina Thalbach and the Belgrade Chamber Orchestra under Daniel Geiss (Dec 22–26).
U.S. tour with Zurich Chamber Orchestra
Now in his seventh season as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Hope leads the Swiss ensemble from the violin on its upcoming U.S. tour (March 17–April 2). This takes them to Ann Arbor; West Palm Beach; New Brunswick, NJ; Savannah; Costa Mesa, CA; Berkeley; Troy, NY; and Fairfax, VA for performances of Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, Mendelssohn’s lesser-known D-minor Violin Concerto and Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed, of which the violinist’s 2012 recording topped the charts in 22 countries.
Bay Area tours with NCCO, now celebrating its 30th season
Another of the world’s few conductorless ensembles, San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra (NCCO) celebrates its 30th anniversary this season. As its Music Director since 2018, Hope directs the orchestra from the violin on its three upcoming Bay Area tours. Titled “Cinematic Escapes,” the first of these explores classic film scores, combining Paul Bateman’s arrangements of Bernard Herrmann’s Vertigo Suite and of selections from Ennio Morricone’s music for Cinema Paradiso, The Mission and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly with Clarice Assad’s arrangement of Gershwin’s An American in Paris and Academy Award-winner Tan Dun’s Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Orchestra with Percussion, featuring Hope and Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov as soloists. After dates in San Rafael (Jan 19), Berkeley (Jan 20) and San Francisco (Jan 21), they conclude the tour at Stanford (Jan 22), where, in place of Tan Dun’s concerto, Botvinov gives the West Coast premiere of Philip Glass’s Third Piano Concerto, an NCCO co-commission. The founder and president of Ukraine’s Odessa Classics Festival, the pianist previously partnered Hope on his recent Deutsche Grammophon releases Schnittke: Works for Violin and Piano and Music for Ukraine.
In February, Hope and New Century join forces with the San Francisco Girls Chorus and its Artistic Director, Valérie Sainte-Agathe, for a program of “Sparkling Connections” (Feb 10–12). They collaborate with the chorus on songs by Lili Boulanger, Debussy and Schubert, as well as on selections from Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, on a spring-themed program that also includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 49, “La Passione,” and Mozart’s First Violin Concerto, with Hope as soloist. After performances in Berkeley (Feb 10) and Sonoma State University (Feb 11), they give a special 30th anniversary concert at San Francisco’s Regency Ballroom where, instead of the Mozart, NCCO gives the world premiere performance of 30th Anniversary Season Overture, a new NCCO commission from two-time Grammy-nominated Bay Area composer Jake Heggie (Feb 12). Earlier this year, Hope premiered Heggie’s Fantasy Suite 1803 at the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, and he looks forward to performing an excerpt from the work with pianist Lara Downes in a live radio concert on California’s KDSC (91.1 FM) on January 17.
For the third and final Bay Area tour of their anniversary season, Hope and NCCO join Grammy-winning tenor Nicholas Phan for a program exploring different “Points of Origin.” Together they give the world premieres of Hannah Kendall’s … I may turn to salt, a work set to text by British-Ethiopian poet Lemn Sissay, and of the orchestral version of Nico Muhly’s song cycle Stranger, a New Century co-commission that examines the American immigrant experience. Muhly’s is one of two works on the program – together with Jessie Montgomery’s Banner, which reimagines the U.S. national anthem – that address America’s identity as a melting pot; also included are two quintessentially English orchestral classics from the first half of the 20th century: Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Britten’s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. This program takes Hope, Phan and the NCCO to Berkeley (May 11), San Francisco (May 13) and San Rafael (May 14), whereas in La Jolla (May 12), Hope and the orchestra replace the works by Vaughan Williams, Kendall and Muhly with an account of Max Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed, the 21st-century reimagining of The Four Seasons heard on the violinist’s bestselling 2012 recording.
In June, Hope and the NCCO head on a European tour with repertoire heard on Music for a New Century, their next Deutsche Grammophon title. Recorded at Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall for release next June, the album is entirely made up of recent NCCO commissions and co-commissions, including three works featured on the upcoming U.S. tours: Tan Dun’s Double Concerto, Philip Glass’s Third Piano Concerto and Jake Heggie’s 30th Anniversary Season Overture.
Featured Artist at Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 2023
Both the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the New Century Chamber Orchestra will appear with Hope at next year’s Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival – the largest classical music festival in Germany – where he serves as the Featured Artist for 2023. A special appointment to celebrate the violinist’s own 50th birthday, this prestigious yearlong residency sees him perform 38 discrete programs at the festival in a full 50 concerts. For the first time in Schleswig-Holstein history, these concerts will take place not only during the summer festival period but also over the entire 2023 calendar year. Marking the largest retrospective of Hope’s collaborative work to date, the concerts will include a new commission, music with spoken word, chamber music and youth workshops. Besides the ZCO and NCCO, performers will include the Festival Orchestra led by Christoph Eschenbach, and students from the Hope Music Academy, the violinist’s annual masterclass series at Germany’s Neuhardenberg Castle.
Hope on the Road – Visiting Hollywood: new documentary in progress
This past spring, Celtic Dreams: Daniel Hope’s Hidden Irish History premiered on PBS stations nationwide. Made with ARTE, the TV documentary followed the violinist as he explored Ireland, Irish music and his own family roots. Now he and ARTE continue their collaboration with Hope on the Road – Visiting Hollywood, a new documentary about the composers who fled Nazi Germany for Los Angeles, where they helped create the classic Hollywood Sound. As well as interviewing survivors and their heirs, including 102-year-old composer Walter Arlen and the son and daughter-in-law of Schoenberg, Hope will speak to some of today’s most prolific film composers, Thomas Newman and John Williams among them. Also featuring a performance at LA’s Thomas Mann House, the former residence of the late, exiled, Nobel Prize-winning novelist, the documentary is being filmed this fall for future release.
An artist who uses his platform to engage in many spheres, the violinist has twice before ventured into documentary film projects. Terezín – Refuge in Music, which he helped produce, won the 2014 ICMA Prize for “Best Documentary,” and Daniel Hope – The Sound of Life screened in movie theaters across North America, Australia and Europe in 2017. Hope also previously researched and explored music by some of the same émigré composers for his 2014 release Escape to Paradise: The Hollywood Album, which features his earlier collaboration with Sting.
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Daniel Hope: upcoming engagements
Dec 11: ARTE TV broadcast
Dec 11–March 11: ARTE online stream
Christmas@Home 2022
With Sting, vocals; Dominic Miller, guitar; Golda Schultz, soprano; Leonkoro Quartet
Dec 22m, 22, 25m, 25, 26m (x 2) & 26
Hamburg, Germany
Elbphilharmonie
Christmas concerts: “Ein Wintermärchen” (“A Winter’s Tale”)
With Fatma Said, soprano; Lucienne Renaudin Vary, trumpet; Katharina Thalbach, recitation; the Belgrade Chamber Orchestra / Daniel Geiss
Jan 17
KDSC (91.1 FM)
Live radio recital with Lara Downes, piano
Jake HEGGIE: excerpt from Fantasy Suite 1803
Other rep TBA
Jan 19–22
Bay Area tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
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)
“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)
Feb 3–March 1
Recitals with Jacques Ammon, piano
Feb 3: Mels, Switzerland (Verrucano Mels, Kultur & Kongresshaus)
Feb 28: Aarau, Switzerland (Kultur & Kongresshaus)
March 1: Rheinfelden, Switzerland (Bahnhofsaal)
“America” program
Feb 10–12
Bay Area tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
Feb 10: Berkeley, CA (First Congregational Church)
Feb 11: Penngrove, CA (Green Music Center at Sonoma State University)
Feb 12: San Francisco, CA (Regency Ballroom; gala concert: “Out of the Woods”)
“Sparkling Connections”
With San Francisco Girls Chorus
Jake HEGGIE: 30th Anniversary Season Overture (world premiere of NCCO commission; Feb 12 only)
L. BOULANGER: “Les sirènes”
DEBUSSY: “Salut Printemps”
SCHUBERT: “Ständchen,” D. 920
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-flat, K. 207 (Feb 10 & 11 only)
HAYDN: Symphony No. 49 in F minor, (“La Passione”)
HUMPERDINCK: Selections from Hansel and Gretel
Feb 26 & April 21: chamber concerts
Feb 26: Münster, Germany
April 21: Waiblingen, Germany
“AIR” program
March 3
Düsseldorf, Germany
Düsseldorf Deutsche Oper
With Sebastian Koch, actor
“Paradise” program
March 17–April 2
U.S. tour with Zurich Chamber Orchestra
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 Theatre 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)
ELGAR: Introduction and Allegro for Strings
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in D minor
Max RICHTER: Vivaldi Recomposed
April 25–28
European tour with Zurich Chamber Orchestra
April 25: Zurich, Switzerland
April 26: Brugg, Switzerland
April 28: Dresden, Germany
MOZART: Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546
Arvo PÄRT: Tabula rasa
SCHNITTKE: Concerto grosso No. 3 (with Sebastian Bohren, violin)
Martin WETTSTEIN: new work
GRIEG: Holberg Suite, Op. 40
May 11–14
Bay Area tour with New Century Chamber Orchestra
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)
“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; May 11, 13 & 14 only)
Nico MUHLY: Stranger for tenor and strings (May 11, 13 & 14 only)
Max RICHTER: Vivaldi Recomposed (May 12 only)
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