Gstaad Menuhin Festival appoints new artistic director

The Gstaad Menuhin Festival and Academy has announced the appointment of South African violinist Daniel Hope to the role of intendant and artistic director. Effective from 1 November 2025, Hope succeeds Christoph Müller, who will step down at the end of the 2025 festival after 24 years at the helm.

Hope was elected unanimously by the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and Academy board of directors on the recommendation of the appointment committee following an extensive selection process. His election builds on his long-standing relationship with the festival and will begin as the organisation prepares to celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2026.

Hope said: ‘The Gstaad Menuhin Festival was the starting point of my relationship with music: it was here that I had my first ever encounter with classical music as a small child. It was also where I was allowed to turn the pages for the festival artists from the age of 11, and when I finally made my official debut at the festival in August 1992, Yehudi Menuhin himself was sitting in the audience. To summarize: Gstaad is so much a part of my musical DNA that it doesn't matter where I am in the world.’

This month, along with his wife and two children, the violinist relocated from Berlin to Switzerland. This season he will give concerts at the end of July in Saanen and Zweisimmen with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and his AIR Ensemble.

Hope will bring to his new role broad experience gained while directing and curating music festivals and concert series, including at the Savannah Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and the Philharmonie Essen. He will balance his new position with his roles as artistic director of the Frauenkirche Dresden and president of the Beethoven House in Bonn.

Outgoing artistic director Müller, who will be responsible for artistic direction until the end of the 2025 festival, said: ‘Daniel Hope is a passionate and successful musician and music educator who will continue to develop the broad-based program and diversity of the current festival in his own visionary way, with concert formats reaching new audiences thanks to his many exciting and even interdisciplinary ideas. He is in every respect the ideal person to lead this festival – which means a great deal to me and to which I am indebted – into its eighth decade. I am delighted to be able to place the artistic responsibility of the festival into his hands.’