Odessa Classics: Daniel Hope, Alexey Botvinov, Zurich Chamber Orchestra

Zurich Chamber Orchestra
Daniel Hope (violin, artistic director)
Alexey Botvinov (piano)

Schnittke. "Suite in the old style"
Schnittke. Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1
Schnittke. "Tango in a madhouse"
Schnittke. "Polka"
Chaikovsky. Serenade for string orchestra in C major in 4 movements

The Zurich Chamber Orchestra (Zürcher Kammerorchester; ZKO) is in the TOP-5 of the best chamber ensembles in Europe. The map of ZKO's international tours knows no boundaries, and the venues where the musicians perform are of the highest class: from London's Albert Hall to the largest halls in European countries, the USA, Asia and South Africa. The main stage of Zürcher Kammerorchester is the Zurich Tonhalle. Misha Maisky, Vadim Repin, Joshua Bell, Hilary Khan, James Galway and many other famous musicians have played with ZKO at different times. In 2017, the orchestra was awarded an Echo Klassik for two CDs in the category Klassik ohne Grenzen (Classics without Borders).

The orchestra was founded in 1945 by Edmond de Stutz. For 73 years of existence, the Zurich collective had only five music directors. The current one is the outstanding violinist Daniel Hope. One of the most famous distinctions of the orchestra: the band plays not only classical music, but also jazz and popular music. The orchestra's previous leader, legendary conductor Sir Roger Norrington, has raised the orchestra's teamwork and quality to unrivaled heights over the years. The orchestra's recordings by Mozart and Haydn have become a new benchmark for the quality of the contemporary music scene. With the arrival of Daniel Hope, the orchestra began to develop towards expanding the boundaries of the classics, tirelessly experimenting with genres and forms of presentation of the classics, and became famous as one of the most modern and innovative classical orchestras in the world. This is the second time the Zurich Chamber Orchestra comes to Ukraine for the ODESSA CLASSIS festival, and this large-scale international cultural project becomes possible thanks to the support of the Swiss Embassy in Ukraine.

Daniel Hope Best Musician in Europe - 2015 (European Culture Music Award). Six-time ECHO winner, four-time Grammy nominee. British virtuoso violinist Daniel Hope was born in 1973 in Durban (South Africa). After moving to London, he studied at Highgate School and the Royal Academy of Music under Zakhar Bron. At the age of 10 he appeared on British television, and at eleven he received an invitation from Sir Yehudi Menuhin to perform B. Bartok's duets with him on German television. This marked the beginning of a long-term artistic partnership between the two musicians, who played over 60 concerts together. A very versatile musician performs as a soloist, chamber performer, conductor. The violinist is known for his exceptional creativity, striving to expand the scope of art. He is the author of successful conceptual projects and three books, screenwriter, television and radio presenter, participant in theatrical performances.

In his work, Daniel Hope refers to both the classical repertoire and new music, jazz. For more than 20 years he has been touring the world with great success. As a soloist and conductor, he constantly performs with chamber orchestras (in particular, the European Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival String Orchestra) and ensembles (including the German L'arte del mondo). Has played in the most prestigious halls in the world with leading orchestras from the USA, Canada, Israel, orchestras in Berlin, Dresden, London, Moscow, Oslo, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna. Hope is a member of the Savannah Music Festival Directorate, Georgia, USA, and is the Artistic Director of the Mecklenburg Summer Festival, Germany. Since 2007 Daniel Hope has been an exclusive artist for Deutsche Grammophon (previously recorded for Warner Classics and Nimbus). In 2010 he presented the world premiere and debut recording of his edition of Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, which Gramophone Magazine called "the best recording of all time."

This winter, the presentation of an album of works by Alfred Schnittke, recorded at Deutsche Grammophon, performed by Daniel Hope and Alexei Botvinov, took place, which, according to the unanimous opinion of critics, has become a great creative event in the music world. Recently Daniel Hope, soloist and artistic director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (since 2016), has recorded with the orchestra a disc with serenades created by great composers in different eras. Some of them will be performed in all three concerts of the orchestra at the ODESSA CLASSICS festival.