A smiling man with gray hair is holding a violin in his hand. He is wearing a black shirt and standing in front of a dark background. ©  Cheryl Mazak
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Celebration | Zukerman, Hope & ZKO

17.07.2026 , Friday

An opening marked by reunion: 70 years of shared joy in music in Gstaad. For the new artistic director Daniel Hope, this concert also represents a journey back to the beginnings: The memory of that lunch at the Hotel Olden on August 17, 1983 – his tenth birthday – when he met Pinchas Zukerman for the first time, remains forever deeply anchored in Daniel Hope's biography. Just as he once matured as an artist under the watchful, benevolent eyes of his mentor Yehudi Menuhin, this anniversary edition is all about togetherness – in all its facets: For the festival opening, Pinchas Zukerman performs alongside his lifelong friend Zubin Mehta, who has been well-known to the audience of the Menuhin Festival Gstaad since his debut in 2004 at the festival tent in Gstaad. Both will perform side by side with the musicians of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, which was a kind of “birthplace” in music for Daniel Hope. Early on, Hope was able to admire the inspiring rehearsals of the ZKO in the church of Saanen under Edmond de Stoutz. For Jacques Offenbach's moving Larmes de Jacqueline – those "tears of Jacqueline" that once became world-famous through the unforgettable Jacqueline du Pré – Hope has also invited Amanda Forsyth, Zukerman's wife. For such a memorable and moving evening, the "classics" of the Viennese spirit – Haydn and Mozart – must not be missing. An evening that stands under the sign of a great musical family – and a story that is ready for its next chapters! 

Pinchas Zukerman, Violin & Viola

Daniel Hope, Violin

Amanda Forsyth, Cello

Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble

Zubin Mehta, Conductor

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major KV 216 (1775) 25'

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) Symphony No. 104 in D Major Hob. I:104, “London” (“Salomon”) (1795) 30'

Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880) “Les Larmes de Jacqueline” [Tears of Jacqueline], Song (Elegy) from “Harmonies du soir” op. 76 No. 2 arr. for Cello and Orchestra (1846) 7'

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) Sinfonia concertante for Violin and Viola in E-flat Major KV 364 (320d) (1779) 35'

120' (including intermission)