Daniel Hope Tours Europe with His Award-Winning Account of Richter’s Vivaldi Recomposed This Summer

The centerpiece of Daniel Hope’s summer is Vivaldi Recomposed, Max Richter’s vivid 21st-century reimagining of The Four Seasons. It was the British violinist for whom Richter composed the work, and the subsequent Deutsche Grammophon recording was named iTunes’ Best U.S. Contemporary Classical Album of 2012 and scored Hope a sixth ECHO Klassik Award. Now Hope takes Richter’s creation on two European tours with Werner Ehrhardt and his period orchestra L’arte del mondo (June 21–23 & Aug 27–30), besides reuniting with two more of the work’s original performers – conductor André de Ridder and Richter himself on keyboards and electronics – for a reprise at this year’s Edinburgh Festival, where they will be joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (Aug 24). Hope also returns to a number of his favorite summer haunts. At the Bristol Proms, where he has been a favorite since making hit appearances in each of its first two seasons, he examines the fierce rivalry between 19th-century masters Tchaikovsky and Brahms (July 27), and at both the Aspen Music Festival (July 17) and Germany’s Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele (June 27), where he previously served as Artistic Director, Hope plays Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto under the baton of Paavo Järvi. His DG recording of the work, for which he undertook intensive study of the composer’s 1844 urtext, prompted The Times of London to declare: “Hope’s playing is a joy – technically impeccable but still passionate, singing and mercurial.”

Hope plays “Summer 1” from Vivaldi Recomposed

As was recently announced, Hope has been named the new Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. He made his first appearance with the ensemble in 2006, and since then he has returned on a regular basis, serving as its Artist-in-Residence last season. But his long association with the ensemble dates back to his childhood, when his mother was manager for legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin, at whose Gstaad festival the Zurich Chamber Orchestra frequently performed. Hope recalls:

Other summer highlights find the violinist playing Elgar’s Violin Concerto with the Japan Philharmonic (July 10 & 11) and unveiling a multi-faceted, eleven-event concert series dedicated to the theme of family. Drawing on the personal history he investigated in his book Familienstücke: Eine Spurensuche (“Family Album: Following the Trail”), and in collaboration with Golden Globe-winning Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer, Hope’s Familienstücke will unfold over a full weekend at Germany’s Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (July 24–26).