British violinist Daniel Hope has toured the world as a virtuoso soloist for many years. He appears as soloist with the world’s major orchestras and conductors, directs many ensembles from the violin, and plays chamber music in a wide variety of traditional and new venues. He was also the youngest member of the Beaux Arts Trio during its final six seasons, and is celebrated for his musical versatility and creativity as well as his dedication to humanitarian causes. Born in South Africa and raised and educated in England, Hope earned degrees at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied with distinguished Russian pedagogue Zakhar Bron.

Hope is one of the world’s most prolific classical recording artists with over 25 albums to his name.

As a child, Hope used to play with Menuhin’s grandchildren and, in 1978, took up violin lessons with a neighbor, Sheila Nelson, a renowned teacher who had a special gift for teaching children. Six years later, Hope entered London’s Royal College of Music, where he was tutored by Russian masters Itzhak Rashkovsky, Felix Andrievsky, and Grigory Zhislin. He finished his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where he worked with Zakhar Bron.

When Hope was only eleven, he was invited by Yehudi Menuhin to play Bartók duos with him on German television. This launched a long artistic partnership consisting of over 60 concerts together, including Menuhin’s final appearance on March 7, 1999, in which he conducted Hope’s performance of Alfred Schnittke’s Violin Concerto.

Devoted to contemporary music, Hope has commissioned over thirty works, enjoying close contact with composers such as Alfred Schnittke, Toru Takemitsu, Harrison Birtwistle, Sofia Gubaidulina, György Kurtág, Peter Maxwell-Davies, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Hope regularly directs chamber orchestras from the violin, performing with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Camerata Salzburg, Lucerne Festival Strings, L’Arte del Mondo, and others. He has appeared at the world’s most important festivals, such as the BBC Proms, Lucerne, Hollywood Bowl, Aspen, Ravinia, Salzburg, Edinburgh, Schleswig-Holstein, and Tanglewood. Hope has performed in all of the world’s most prestigious venues – from Carnegie Hall to the Concertgebouw – and with the world’s greatest orchestras. Highlights include appearances with the Boston and Chicago Symphonies and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as the major orchestras of Berlin, London, Leipzig, Dresden, Israel, Moscow, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, and Vienna.

Hope plays the 1742 “ex-Lipiński” Guarneri del Gesù, placed generously at his disposal by an anonymous family from Germany. The instrument carries the name of its owner, the 19th-century Polish violinist Karol Lipiński, who shared the stage with Paganini, Schumann, and Liszt. Hope resides in Vienna, Austria.