Performer: Daniel Hope

Daniel Hope, the new Artistic Director of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, this year celebrating its 70th edition, plays Elgar’s Violin Concerto.

A mixed performance from Bonn, but there was magic from Barenboim's fingers in the Third Piano Concerto.

A varied, interesting programme was offered to the Zurich audience, with Emőke Baráth shining in two Baroque cantatas and Daniel Hope leading the orchestra from the violin.

Hope can spin high-lying musical phrases with a sweetness and suspension that few of his contemporaries can match.

Featuring “greats” of the Italian and German Baroque, The Zurich Chamber Orchestra (ZKO) recently played a concert in the perfect venue.

Yesterday’s all-Romantic programme displaced the usual thing with incredible panache, as Daniel Hope’s violin surveyed the ensemble with regal bearing. 

Next June and July will see MS6’s latest in impressively starry music-focused cruises, a 15-day journey to many locations around the Mediterranean, aboard the opulent liner Explora I.

The Bulgarian capital is truly at the meeting point of world cultures, and the Sofia Philharmonic offers a heady mix of the world’s best classical soloists, as well as homegrown talent.

Richard Tognetti, David Grimal and Daniel Hope, three well-known violinists who also lead chamber orchestras, provide fascinating insights into the changing musical landscape today and the challenges of being both performers and leaders.