DANIEL HOPE: ZURICH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 @ 7:30pm

State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

DANIEL HOPE, Conductor and Violin

PROGRAM

ELGAR, Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, The Lark Ascending (version for violin and string orchestra)

MENDELSSOHN, Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in D Minor

Music Director and violinist, Daniel Hope leads the venerated 76-year-old music institution, Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZCO) in an invigorating program this spring! A protégé of renowned violinist/conductor Yehudi Menuhin, Hope is the first instrumentalist to be named Music Director of the acclaimed ZCO. Conducting from the violin, Hope leads the orchestra in a program featuring Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending as well as two timeless works for string orchestra—Elgar’s exhilarating Introduction and Allegro and Mendelssohn’s lively D minor violin concerto.

In the 1940s, music student Edmond de Stoutz used his free time to regularly meet with a number of friends and make music together. The joy of pursuing their creative ideals and the group’s shared passion for chamber music gave rise to the desire of forming a chamber orchestra. This led to the first public concert of the ZCO in Zurich in 1945.

Seventy-six years later the Zurich Chamber Orchestra is one of the leading ensembles of its kind. For over 50 years, Edmond de Stoutz was inspiring and holding together the orchestra community. With his charismatic spirit he excited musicians and audience alike and helped establish a large supporting network around the orchestra. After his era, the conductors Howard Griffiths, Muhai Tang, and Sir Roger Norrington shaped the sound and musical ideas of the ZCO.

Today, the ZCO regularly visits international festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Rheingau Musik Festival, and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival/Odessa Classics. Guest performances in leading concert halls, tours throughout Europe, America, Asia, and South Africa as well as numerous critically acclaimed CD releases testify to the worldwide renown of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.