NCCO Hires Daniel Hope

Daniel Hope will be New Century Chamber Orchestra's next Music Director, starting in the 2018-19 season, supplanting a previous agreement appointing him to a three-year term as Artistic Partner. He has a five-year contract as Music Director.

The full press release is after the cut.


San Francisco, CA – March 16, 2018 – New Century Chamber Orchestra announced today the appointment of British violinist Daniel Hope as Music Director beginning in the 2018-2019 season. Previously appointed as Artistic Partner, a three-year position created to provide artistic continuity throughout the search process for a permanent Music Director, Hope will now lead the ensemble on a five-year contract as Music Director through the 2022-2023 season.

“We are delighted to welcome Daniel Hope as a permanent member of the New Century family,” commented Search Committee Chair and Founding Board President Paula Gambs. “The impact that he has had on the entire organization in such a short space of time has been astonishing. It was unanimously agreed that Daniel, one of the world’s most creative, exciting and forward-thinking artists today, is the person to lead the orchestra into its next chapter. I would like to thank the search committee for their hard work and tireless efforts in making this a reality.”

“Energy, joy and innovation are all synonymous with New Century performances and Daniel provides these in abundance,” said Board President Mark Salkind. “The experience he brings from his multi-faceted career is invaluable not only for the continued success and aspirations of our organization but for the longevity of classical music as a whole.”

“The connection I felt with each and every member of this fine orchestra was immediate from the first moment we played together,” said Daniel Hope. “New Century has achieved a vast array of impressive milestones in their 25 year history and their eagerness and ambition to continue building upon this is contagious. I am honored to be a part of this inspiring journey and look forward to accomplishing many more milestones together.”

“Daniel’s connection with New Century and its audiences has been electric and immediate, resulting in thrilling performances and record attendance this season,” said Executive Director Philip Wilder. “His superb artistic leadership, collaborative spirit and sense of adventure perfectly aligns itself with our core mission and we look toward our bright future together with great excitement.”

A frequent soloist with many of the world’s most illustrious orchestras, Hope has appeared with Boston and Chicago Symphonies, as well as the major orchestras of Berlin, London, Moscow and Vienna. Hope also directs chamber orchestras regularly as soloist including Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Camerata Salzberg, among others. In 2016, he was the first instrumentalist to be appointed Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, succeeding Sir Roger Norrington. With a fresh approach to classical music, Hope was recognized in September 2015 with the prestigious European Cultural Prize for Music and has been nominated for numerous GRAMMY awards throughout his prolific recording career. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist since 2007, Hope is a best-selling recording artist and last month released his most recent album Journey to Mozart in collaboration with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. The versatility of his work has seen him publish three books, direct and produce three films, and regularly produce radio and television shows around the world.

Called “adventurous and brilliant” by the New York Times, Daniel Hope made his debut with New Century Chamber Orchestra in February 2016 as Guest Concertmaster in a special centennial tribute to his mentor, Yehudi Menuhin. These performances were lauded as a huge success with the San Jose Mercury News commenting that “if the concert represented a high-water mark for the orchestra, what it suggested for the future was downright tantalizing.” In his first appearances as Artistic Partner in September 2017, Hope’s leadership was described as “urbane and eloquent” (San Francisco Chronicle) in a performance that “sparkled” and ended in a “graceful whirlwind of refined beauty” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Since his appointment as Artistic Partner in October 2016, New Century has presented the World Premiere of a co-commissioned Violin Concerto by Alan Fletcher, brought renowned guest artists Menahem Pressler and Sebastian Knauer and welcomed the world-renowned Zurich Chamber Orchestra for a joint performance in San Francisco, its first Bay Area appearance in over a decade. In the summer of 2019, Hope will lead New Century in its first-ever European tour.

ABOUT NEW CENTURY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
The New Century Chamber Orchestra, one of only a handful of conductorless ensembles in the world, was founded in 1992. The 19-member string ensemble, including San Francisco Bay Area musicians and those who travel from across the U.S. and Europe to perform together, makes musical decisions collaboratively. World-renowned British violinist soloist, chamber musician and recording artist Daniel Hope leads from the concertmaster chair as the orchestra’s Music Director. The 2017-2018 season marks his first with the orchestra and continues an illustrious line of concertmasters including Stuart Canin (1992–1999), Krista Bennion Feeney (1999–2006) and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg (2008-2017).

In addition to performing classic pieces of chamber orchestra repertoire and commissioning new works, New Century breathes new life into rarely heard jewels of the past and performs world premieres. New Century has made three successful national tours over the past seven years. The 2011 performances in the Midwest, the East Coast and Southern California garnered record-breaking audiences and national critical acclaim. In January and February 2013, New Century followed with a highly successful eight-state national tour, the largest and most ambitious artistic undertaking in the organization’s history. In addition to touring efforts, New Century’s national footprint has also continued to grow with a rapidly increasing national radio presence.

The orchestra has released seven compact discs, the most recent its From A to Z: 21st Century Concertos. The orchestra’s first concert DVD, On Our Way: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra, released in May 2012, weaves together documentary footage and concert footage from a February 2011 performance at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

For more information on New Century, please visit http://www.ncco.org.

ABOUT DANIEL HOPE
British violinist Daniel Hope has toured the world as a virtuoso soloist for 25 years and is celebrated for his musical versatility as well as his dedication to humanitarian causes. Winner of the 2015 European Cultural Prize for Music, whose previous recipients include Daniel Barenboim, Plácido Domingo and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Hope appears as soloist with the world’s major orchestras and conductors, also directing many ensembles from the violin. An exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist since 2007, he has been Associate Artistic Director of Georgia’s annual Savannah Music Festival since 2004, overseeing all classical music programming; succeeded Sir Roger Norrington as Music Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra beginning with the 2016-17 season; recently became Artistic Partner of San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra, and in 2019 he begins his appointment as the Artistic Director of the Dresden Frauenkirche.

Daniel Hope is one of the world’s most prolific classical recording artists, with over 25 albums to his name. His recordings have won the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, the Diapason d’Or of the Year, the Edison Classical Award, the Prix Caecilia, six ECHO-Klassik Awards and numerous Grammy nominations.  His album of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Octet with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe was named one of the best of the year by the New York Times. His recording of Alban Berg’s Concerto was voted Gramophone Magazine’s “top choice of all available recordings.“ And his recording of Max Richter's Vivaldi Recomposed, which reached No. 1 in over 22 countries is, with 130,000 copies sold, one of the most successful classical recordings of recent times.

Hope was raised in London and studied the violin with Zakhar Bron. A member of the Beaux Arts Trio during its final six seasons, today Hope performs at all the world’s greatest halls and festivals: from Carnegie Hall to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, from Salzburg to Schleswig-Holstein, from Aspen to the  BBC Proms and Tanglewood. He has worked with conductors including Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano and Christian Thielemann, as well as with the world’s greatest symphony orchestras including Boston, Chicago, Paris, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo. 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 and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

Daniel Hope has penned four bestselling books published in Germany; he contributes regularly to the Wall Street Journal and has written scripts for collaborative performances with the actors Klaus Maria Brandauer and Mia Farrow. In Germany he presents a weekly radio show for the WDR3 Channel.

Since 2004 Hope has been Associate Artistic Director of the Savannah Music Festival. He plays the 1742 “ex-Lipiński” Guarneri del Gesù, placed generously at his disposal by an anonymous family from Germany. He lives with his family in Berlin.

PHOTO CREDITS
Daniel Hope / Nicolas Zonvi