Paying tribute to a great talent with a big heart
Violinist who was mentored by Yehudi Menuhin honours the superstar with a concert
Violinist Daniel Hope’s family was down to their last dollar when his mother got word from an employment agency there was a secretarial job for her.
The family had fled South Africa in the mid-1970s over their unpopular anti-apartheid views, landing first in France and then England.
Hope was 2 when his mother, Eleanor, secured the job with violin superstar Yehudi Menuhin, whom she had heard play in South Africa.
She was not musically trained, but she “knew the difference between Beethoven and Bach,” so Menuhin hired her.
The six-month stint lasted 24 years and improved the lives of all of the Hope family. Hope’s writer father collaborated with Menuhin on two books; his older brother moved into arts administration and Hope embarked on an international career as a violinist.
The skills he learned under Menuhin’s tutelage will be on display Thursday at a Koerner Hall concert honouring the 100th year since Menuhin’s birth.
Hope originally trained with Russian violinist Zakhar Bron, but at 16, Menuhin asked to hear him play. For the next 10 years they travelled the world together.
Although they played their violins together a few times, Menuhin generally conducted.
“I played with him until his death (in 1999); we toured the world and it was the best learning course. I’d play live onstage and get a post-mortem afterwards.
“It was incredible and terrifying at the same time.”
Menuhin was ferociously popular, a fact that kept Hope humble.
As the soloist, he walked onstage before the conductor.
“There’d be applause and then, when the audience got sight of him, there’d be an explosion.
“I realized just who I was sharing the stage with. He was challenging.”
Menuhin gave the young professional an incredible education.
“It was everything you could hope from a teacher, the tips and tricks of the trade, where are the pitfalls?”
Hope’s final concert with Menuhin was in Berlin five days before his death, in which he played one of Alfred Schnittke’s violin concertos.
The concert at Koerner Hall includes pieces that reference the violinists’ shared experiences, such as George Enescu’s Impromptu concertant, because Enescu had been Menuhin’s teacher, and William Walton’s Violin Sonata, which was commissioned by Menuhin.
Hope is currently on a tour organized by Menuhin’s daughter, Zamira Benthall, to honour the 100th anniversary.
It will keep him busy for a year, says Hope, who is releasing a new album, My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin, on Deutsche Grammophon. Yehudi Menuhin @100 with Daniel Hope and Sebastian Knauer is at Koerner Hall Thursday at 8 p.m. Go to rcmusic.ca for tickets.
“I played with him until his death (in 1999); we toured the world and it was the best learning course . . . It was incredible and terrifying at the same time.”
DANIEL HOPE
ON YEHUDI MENUHIN