3 questions to daniel hope about his residency

Britten and Menuhin: What comes to your mind when you think about this connection? 

DH: "In the summer of 1945, Benjamin Britten and Yehudi Menuhin met in London. A few days later, they were sitting in a small car on their way to the recently liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In order to allow the surviving victims of Nazi barbarism to participate in art and culture again, Menuhin and Britten performed in Bergen-Belsen. It must have been a very moving, yet at the same time terrifying experience. But it led to a deep artistic friendship between the two musicians. This undoubtedly made possible the next important step: The invitation to Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears to come to Gstaad for a concert in 1956 gave rise to one of the most traditional European festivals."

Elgar and Menuhin? 

DH: "A year after the opening of the “EMI Recording Studios” (as the legendary Abbey Road Studios were then called), Edward Elgar recorded his Violin Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra. The soloist had been recommended to him by Fred Gaisberg, who also discovered Caruso: it was the 16-year-old Yehudi Menuhin. The first encounter of the two musicians was remarkable. Three days before the start of the recording in the summer of 1932, Menuhin was supposed to play Elgar the solo part for the first time. But after a few bars – Menuhin had not even reached the second theme – Elgar interrupted him with the words: “It’s a beautiful day today and I have no worries at all. I have to go to the horse races!” This resulted in one of the most beautiful recordings until today."

Hope and Gstaad? 

DH: “"Gstaad my Love”. That slogan was used by the Gstaad tourist office in the 1970s, and that’s exactly how I feel about this place. I still have the white sticker with the black and red print from Cadonau’s stationery shop. Gstaad means the world to me because right here, I experienced music for the first time ever: My first encounter with Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi. The smell of the wooden benches in the Saanen Church, from where I listened to hours and hours of rehearsals. The wonderful sound of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra conducted by Edmond de Stoutz. Quite simply, Gstaad is so deeply implanted in my musical genetics that it doesn’t matter where I am in the world – whenever I play or listen to music, I feel that a part of me is in the Bernese Oberland."