Chad Hoopes

“[An] impressive… prodigiously talented [musician with an] enormous stamina and brilliant, zippy sound.”

– The New York Times

Acclaimed by critics worldwide  for his “jaw-dropping virtuosity” and magnificent tone, American violinist Chad Hoopes remains  one  of  the most consistent and versatile violinists of his generation. The Washington Post has praised his wide-ranging repertoire and projects as "assured and vivid…[ with a] gift for dramatic pacing and a distinctive, convincing sense of poetry... [A] sense of lyricism, gripping dramatic flow and intellectual depth…”

Hoopes regularly appears as soloist with the world’s leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Vancouver Symphony San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo. In 2018, Hoopes performed the European Premiere of Chen Qigang’s Violin Concerto with l’Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.

As part of the Beethoven 250-year celebrations in the 2019-2020 Season, Hoopes will collaborate with Carnegie Hall in a performance and lecture of a Beethoven Sonata at Columbia University. Other highlights of the present season include a tour in China performing with Maestro Long Yu and the China Philharmonic and with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. He makes his Chinese recital debut in Chongqing at the Philharmonic Hall in November, and he performs the Adams concerto with the Staatsoper Orchester in Hannover Germany.

Hoopes has performed recitals at The Kennedy Center, Ravinia Festival, Tonhalle Zürich, Louvre Auditorium, L’Auditori in Barcelona, Oslo Opera House, and at Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series in New York City. Hoopes has appeared with Andras Schiff at the Beethovenfest Bonn, and has performed at the Rheingau Musik Festival. Hoopes is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS), and regularly performs with them at Lincoln Center in New York. Hoopes also tours nationally and internationally with CMS. He regularly appears in chamber music programs at the Aspen Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Bravo! Vail, Kissinger Sommer Festival, Recontres Musicales D’Evian, Dresden Music Festival, Verbier Festival, Moritzburg Festival, IMS Prussia Cove and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern where he was named the winner of the prestigious Audience Award.

His debut recording with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra under Kristjan Järvi featured the Mendelssohn and Adams concertos was released in 2014 on the French label Naïve. The recording was enthusiastically received by both press and public. His recording of Bernstein’s Violin Sonata with pianist Wayne Marshall was released last autumn. Hoopes’ performances have been featured in broadcasts on radio, streaming, and television through Medici TV, NPR, WQXR, BR Klassik, BBC Radio 3, PBS, ARTE, MPR, and CBS’ the Early Show. His performances with the China Philharmonic in 2019 will be recorded for broadcast on China’s CCTV.

Hoopes was named the first Artist-in-Residence with the Munich Symphony Orchestra, a position created specifically for him after his highly acclaimed debut with the orchestra. He also served as Artist-in- Residence for Classical Minnesota Public Radio, one of the most celebrated classical public radio stations in the US. In 2017, Hoopes was a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, and in 2008, he won first prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition.

Additionally, he was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize and was featured in an EMMY Award winning commercial for the Cleveland Indians major league baseball team.

Born in Florida, Hoopes began his violin studies at the age of three in Minneapolis, and continued his training at the Cleveland Institute of Music under David Cerone and Joel Smirnoff. He additionally studied at the Kronberg Academy with Professor Ana Chumachenco, who  remains his mentor. Hoopes serves as an artist faculty member for Music@Menlo and is a sought-after masterclass teacher and has taught classes at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Menuhin School in England.

Hoopes plays the 1991 Samuel Zygmuntowicz, ex Isaac Stern violin.