Daniel Hope
It is rare to find such a dazzling figure in the history of music: Chevalier de Saint-Georges was a top violinist and star fencer, a successful composer, a gifted horseman, dancer and figure skater. He was born Joseph Bologne in 1745. He was the son of a French plantation owner and a slave of Senegalese origin on Guadeloupe. He came to Paris with his parents as a small child. Here he began training as a fencing master.
As skillful with the violin bow as he was with the foil, he also played his way to the top in the world of music: He became the leader of the renowned ensemble "Concert de la Loge olympique" and wrote violin concertos of unheard-of virtuosity at the time. With the Violin Concerto in A major, Music Director Daniel Hope tells the moving story of the revolutionary who spent his life fighting for the abolition of slavery and equality for people of color. Unfortunately, his work and his life story fell into oblivion and have only recently been brought back into focus on the concert stage.
Photo: Daniel Hope © Daniel Waldhecker
Date and time
January 27, 2026, 19:30
Address
Tonhalle Zurich - Great Hall
Organizer
Zurich Chamber Orchestra
Works
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 51 in D major, KV 196/121; Christoph Willibald Gluck: Dance of the Furies, from: Orpheus and Eurydice, Wq. 41; Joseph Bologne: Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in A major, op. 5/2; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in B flat major, K. 207; Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 49 in F minor, La Passione, Hob. I:49
Management
Daniel Hope (Music Director)
Admission price
CHF 115 | 105 | 90 | 65 | 40
Contact us
Telephone: +41 (0)44 552 59 00; e-mail: tickets@zko.ch