Daniel Hope & NFM Wrocław Philharmonic

Daniel Hope is regarded as one of the most distinguished and versatile violin virtuosos of our time. A former student of Yehudi Menuhin, he currently records for Deutsche Grammophon and is especially known for his deep engagement with music of the 20th and 21st centuries. This focus will also shape his performance with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, where he will present Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto—a work Hope has recorded to great critical acclaim. The orchestra will be conducted by Christoph Eschenbach, whose extensive discography also includes the second work featured in this concert: Antonín Dvořák’s famous Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” recorded twice by the maestro.

Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto was composed in 1938–1939 and belongs to the composer’s early creative period. Although it received its premiere in 1940 at the New York Philharmonic, performed by Spanish violinist Antonio Brosa under the baton of John Barbirolli, Britten remained dissatisfied with the piece and returned to it three times, introducing further revisions and refinements. Scored for a large orchestra with an expanded percussion section, the concerto is also unusual in form. Instead of ending with a virtuosic flourish, it concludes with a sombre and powerful passacaglia, a stylised reference to a Baroque dance.

Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” owes its subtitle to the place of its creation. The Czech composer wrote the work during his stay in the United States between 1892 and 1895, when he served as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York. This period proved deeply inspiring, and Dvořák often incorporated elements of Native American music and African American spirituals into his compositions. The Ninth Symphony is the most famous outcome of this time. It premiered at Carnegie Hall in 1893, and Dvořák later revealed that the second and third movements were inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. The symphony achieved immediate success, and its cultural significance is underscored by the fact that a recording of the work was taken into space by the astronauts of the Apollo 11 mission during the historic Moon landing.