Van Walsum Management is delighted to announce the signing for
general management of violinist Daniel Hope

Beyond his distinguished and enterprising career as a solo violinist, Daniel Hope spent six seasons as the youngest violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio and is active as a festival director, author and broadcaster.

The Observer has described him as “the most exciting British string player since Jacqueline du Pré,” while, in the words of the New York Times, he is: “... a violinist of probing intellect and commanding style… a compelling performer whose work involves standard repertory, new music, raga, and jazz…  In his most personal undertakings, he puts classical works within a broader context – not just among other styles and genres but amid history, literature, and drama – to emphasize music’s role as a mirror for struggle and aspiration.”

NZZ in February of this year described Hope as “a phenomenon. A brilliant soloist and chamber musician, he organises festivals and writes books which are as enjoyable as they are highly intelligent.”

Van Walsum’s Chairman, Stephen Wright, commented: “We are very happy to be developing, with Daniel, the wide scope of his creative musical activities - and also believe that these will be effectively partnered by Van Walsum’s own range of varied management services”.

Hope grew up in the UK, where, as a child, he was mentored by Yehudi Menuhin. He trained at London’s Royal Academy of Music and subsequently with Zakhar Bron in Lübeck.

In his appearances with the major orchestras in Berlin, Dresden, Vienna, London, Birmingham, Paris, Stockholm, Oslo, Moscow, Israel, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Atlanta and Toronto, he has performed with conductors such as Daniel Harding, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Roger Norrington, Michel Plasson, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Christian Thielemann. In the dual role of soloist and director he has performed with ensembles such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Camerata Salzburg, and Concerto Köln.  Hope is also a committed exponent of chamber music and his colleagues have included Thomas Adès, Yuri Bashmet, Philippe Entremont, Lynn Harrell, Jaime Laredo, Katia and Marielle Labèque, Edgar Meyer, Anne Sofie von Otter, Mark Padmore, Menahem Pressler and Tabea Zimmermann. He has also performed with Sting and the Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer.

In the current season his appearances have included the world premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Violin Concerto No 2, Fiddler on the Shore, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, followed by its UK premiere at the Proms with the Royal Philharmonic, and the Elgar concerto with the Oslo Philharmonic under Vasily Petrenko. Among further plans for the season are: concerts in Germany and New York of the baroque repertoire from his latest Deutsche Grammophon release, Air;  chamber concerts in Savannah, Georgia (he is Associate Director of the Savannah Music Festival); the Brahms Violin Concerto in Istanbul with the Borusan Orchestra under Sascha Goetzel, and subsequently with Sir Roger Norrington and the SWR Symphony Orchestra in Stuttgart, to be followed by a tour to Seoul and Beijing. In Cologne in May at the Triennale, for the second consecutive year under the banner Daniel Hope and Friends, he has devised three concerts which deal with music suppressed by the Nazis, including a programme dedicated to the musicians of the Theresienstadt concentration camp. With viola player Nobuko Imai he will play Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under Ingo Metzmacher, and further concerto dates include Luxembourg, Tampere, Sydney and Melbourne.

Summer 2010 brings Daniel Hope’s first festival as Artistic Partner at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in northern Germany, and he also makes festival appearances in Germany (Augsburg, Bad Kissingen), Austria (Grafenegg) and Switzerland (Verbier, Gstaad). In addition he will open the season of the Vienna Konzerthaus with Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto and the Wiener Symphoniker which kicks off a residency spanning seven months in Vienna with a host of performances and lectures.

An exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon, Daniel Hope has received a Classical BRIT award in the UK and, in Germany, a Deutscher Schallplattenpreis and five consecutive ECHO Klassik Prizes.  His second book, published in Autumn 2009 and on the German bestseller list, is Wann darf ich klatschen? (When do I clap?) a discussion of the mores of classical concerts.

Hope’s cutting edge website www.DanielHope.com includes his own video blog, which he films and produces himself. There are interviews with musicians such as Anne Sofie von Otter, Sting, Christopher Hogwood and footage from his recent performance at the German Parliament to commemorate the victims of the Nazis.

For further information please contact Simon Millward at Albion Media, simon@albion-media.co.uk, +44 (0)20 7629 3252

12 March 2010