Hope Springs Eternal

Daniel Hope, one of the shining stars in the current crop of young international virtuoso violinists, comes to Belfast's Ulster Hall this week. The young British violinist with a dazzling career has just this week been signed up as an exclusive artist by the famous 'yellow label' (Deutsche Grammophon) - bucking the recent trend of record companies shedding their artists.

Hope's career has rocketed in the past few years. He received two Grammy Award nominations in 2005 and has twice won the prestigious ECHO Klassik prize in Germany. He is the youngest ever violinist in the Beaux Arts Trio. "There's a tremendous weight of history there", says Hope, who for many years also worked closely with Yehudi Menuhin.

Daniel Hope joins the Ulster Orchestra on Friday evening to play music by Brahms - one of the greatest violin concertos ever written. Also on the programme is Schubert's Unfinished Symphony. -- www.ulster-orchestra.org.uk