Daniel Hope is now in his first season as Intendant & Artistic Director of Switzerland’s Menuhin Festival & Academy Gstaad, having been unanimously elected to the role, in view of his 21 years of curatorial experience and deep musical associations with Gstaad and the late Yehudi Menuhin himself. In this new post, Hope will preside over the Menuhin Festival Gstaad’s landmark 70th anniversary season this summer. He explains:

“The summer of 2026 marks a new era and homecoming for the Menuhin Festival Gstaad. For nearly seven decades, this beloved place has been more than a festival – it has been a family. Under the theme ‘Family Matters,’ we celebrate the many forms of family – those we are born into and those we find through music. Family means trust, continuity, and belonging – values that Yehudi Menuhin embodied like few others. These values live on in Gstaad: in encounters across generations, in friendships formed on and off stage, and in the sharing of knowledge and inspiration. Our 2026 program celebrates the many ways we connect with one another. … In a rapidly changing world, we aim to show that music can unite us, offer hope, and create a shared sense of belonging beyond all boundaries.”

Under Hope’s auspices, highlights of the anniversary season (July 16–Sep 5) will include an opening-night concert featuring living legends Zubin Mehta and Pinchas Zukerman; a collaboration between Jaap van Zweden and the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, culminating with a European tour this fall; performances by London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily Petrenko, as well as by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Royal Danish Orchestra, and Zurich Chamber Orchestra; guest appearances by artists including Daniil Trifonov, Sir András Schiff, Iván Fischer, Khatia Buniatishvili, Thomas Hampson, Gabriela Montero, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Steven Isserlis, Regula Mühlemann, Bomsori Kim, Isata Kanneh-Mason, and Marie Jacquot; and a new production of Puccini’s La bohème, starring Benjamin Bernheim under Marco Armiliato’s leadership. See the full festival lineup here.