50 | MARCH 16 • 2023 

ARTS&LIFE
MUSIC

V

iolinist and music director Daniel 
Hope expects this year, his 50th, to 
be the busiest as he tours the world 
amid responsibilities in writing and develop-
ing radio, television and film programming. 
Usually numbering 120 guest concerts a 
year, he moves into 2023 with 180 scheduled 
events.
One concert will be on the evening of 
March 17 in Ann Arbor under sponsorship 
of the University Musical Society (UMS) and 
featuring variations of modern American 
music. Works by Aaron Copeland, George 
Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Samuel 
Barber will be among the selections as Hope 
leads the musical talents of some 25 mem-
bers of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
“I’ve really grown up playing and listening 
to American music,
” Hope said. “I’ve had this 

fascination for both the music and the coun-
try. My family members immigrated to the 
United States during the 1930s, so America 
was very present in our conversations.
“There’s something about American music 
that I always related to. I’ve always loved and 
been fascinated and inspired by it. Playing it 
for many years, I wanted to encapsulate that, 
and I came up with an album a year and a 
half ago with pianist Marcus Roberts and 
other wonderful musicians.
“Having done that album, we wanted to 
get out and bring it to the people. I’ve been 
playing it all over Europe for the past year 
and a half, but it’s not really the same as 
playing it for a United States audience. I’m 
particularly thrilled that we’re having the 
chance to bring this tremendous music back 
to where it comes from.
”
Hope, who has appeared many times in 
Michigan, last performed for UMS in 2019, 
when the program featured Vivaldi’s “Four 
Seasons” paired with a new take on the work 
by Max Richter.

A LOVE OF VIOLIN
Interest in the violin began when Hope was 
4. He was introduced by violinist Yehudi 
Menuhin as his mother was Menuhin’s 
London secretary. Menuhin helped refer 

Hope to teachers and, ultimately, the two 
instrumentalists joined together on stage.
“Different reasons attract me to the vio-
lin,
” said Hope, who studied at the Royal 
Academy of Music in London. “First is the 
beauty of the sound. The violin is something 
of the human voice. It has all the emotions, 
including melancholy and sensitivity. It also 
has the percussives and the abrasives as well 
as being soothing, calming and inspiring. 
“There’s so much presence in all the qual-
ities of the violin and just the fact that it’s 
mobile. People pick up their instruments 
and travel with them. You just put it on your 
back and off you go.
”
Hope’s varied experiences include being 
part of the last years of the Beaux Arts Trio 
and currently serving as music director of 
the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San 
Francisco. He was among the entertainers 
for the establishment of the Max M. Fisher 
Music Center in Detroit in 2003 and has 
been associate director of the Savannah 
Music Festival in Georgia.
With more than 20 albums recorded, 

Daniel Hope to lead Zurich Chamber 
Orchestra at Ann Arbor event.
Variations on American Music

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Details
Daniel Hope’s program will begin 
at 8 p.m. Friday, March 17, in Hill 
Auditorium, 825 N. University, Ann 
Arbor. Tickets start at $14. A prelude 
dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. in the 
Michigan League Henderson Room, 
$75. (734) 764-2538. ums.org.

Zurich Chamber 
Orchestra

DANIEL WALDHECKER

HARALD HOFFMAN

Daniel 
Hope

