Daniel Hope: A Renaissance Man In Savannah has high praise for the SMF Associate Artistic Director:

Even in this age of marathon multitaskers, British violinist Daniel Hope stands out. Along with his near ceaseless touring and trips to the recording studio, he makes time to shoot videos, write books (his third, written in German no less, was released this time last year) and act as an advocate for larger musical issues. On top of that he’s an artistic partner at the third largest music festival in Germany, and for a few weeks each spring, Hope sets up shop in coastal Georgia, helping to direct the Savannah Music Festival. Is he a masochist, or just a modern day Renaissance man?

Hope not only co-curates Savannah’s 16-day music party (which this year ranges from jazz, bluegrass and flamenco to classical, cabaret and Indian music) he performs in a good portion of it. For this concert, he invited friends to play an evening of French chamber music from the late 19th century.

The program accompanying today’s post:

Maurice Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Piano (posthumous)

Gabriel Fauré: Elégie, Op. 24 (for cello and piano)

Gabriel Fauré: Quartet No. 1 in C minor for Piano and Strings, Op. 15

Personnel:
Daniel Hope, violin
Carla Maria Rodrigues, viola
Keith Robinson, cello
Simon Crawford-Phillips, piano

The program airing today (you can listen at the above link) was recorded at the Telfair Academy on March 28th.

It’s a 62-minute performance of Anton Arensky: String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 35 and Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70 (for string sextet).

The performers include:
Daniel Hope, violin
Philip Dukes, viola
and the following from the Arensky ensemble:
Benny Kim, violin
Josephine Knight, cello
Keith Robinson, cello
Carla Maria Rodrigues, viola

From NPR’s description:

In this program, Hope and his handpicked group of players begin with a musical memorial to Tchaikovsky and close with music by the master himself. When Tchaikovsky died in 1893 at age 53, he left more than a few young Russian composers devastated. Sergei Rachmaninov responded with a brooding, elegiac piano trio dedicated to Tchaikovsky’s memory. Anton Arensky went one step further in his Second String Quartet, borrowing one of Tchaikovsky’s best-loved melodies (from the song “Legend”) to serve as the emotional heart of the piece. There’s a palpable air of solemnity in Arensky’s music, written for the non-traditional ensemble of violin, viola and two cellos. Arensky later revamped his three-movement piece by extracting the central movement, a set of variations on Tchaikovsky’s song, and beefing it up into a stand-alone piece for string orchestra.

Go to the link to listen and to read more. As I keep noting, this is amazing PR for the entire city.