Daniel Hope (violinist)

Daniel Hope (born 17 August 1973, Durban, South Africa) is a British-Irish classical violinist.

Hope is of German descent, as his grandparents, formerly from Berlin, escaped Nazism. His father is the novelist Christopher Hope, FRSL, and his mother Eleanor Hope worked as an assistant to Yehudi Menuhin. At age six months, his family moved from South Africa to London, because of his father's anti-apartheid views. In the UK Hope was educated at Highgate School and studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Stoke d'Abernon. In 2011 he was appointed Visiting Professor in Violin by the Royal Academy of Music, where he had studied under Zakhar Bron and gained a diploma (DipRAM) and a fellowship (FRAM).

In 2004 Hope won the prize for young British classical performer of the year at the Classical BRIT awards. He has won the ECHO Klassik Prize five times, in 2006 as Instrumentalist of the Year. He was awarded the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music, presented at the Dresden Frauenkirche in October 2015.

Hope became the violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio in 2002. His burgeoning career led to his decision to leave the Beaux Arts Trio, which in turn led to the decision to disband the ensemble. The Beaux Arts Trio, with Hope as the final violinist in the history of the ensemble, gave its final concerts in August 2008.

Hope has served as an associate artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival. In April 2015 he was named the new music director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, effective in 2016.

Hope plays the 1737Guarneri "ex-Lipinski" violin. He presented the 2013 documentary film The Secrets of the Violin, which explored the history of violin making from Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri to modern makers like Samuel Zygmuntowicz.

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