Eric Hope

Who was Eric Hope?

Eric Hope was a British pianist.

Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, of Baltic descent, he was a pupil at Warwick School between 1931 and 1934. He studied piano playing in London under Kathleen Arnold, herself a pupil of Clara Schumann's most distinguished student, Fanny Davies.

He worked with leading figures of his day, including the conductor Sir Henry Wood and the composer Arthur Bliss. He made his London debut at the BBC Promenade concerts, and could be heard regularly with the London Philharmonic, London Symphony and Hallé orchestras under the batons of conductors such as Malcolm Sargent, Adrian Boult and John Pritchard. During the Second World War Eric Hope was a conscientious objector.

He became renowned as a specialist in the works of Bach, Liszt and Debussy, although he struggled with the music of Clara Schumann's great friend Johannes Brahms.

With his partner Jack Sarch, a barrister and amateur playwright, Hope founded the Pro Arte Society in the 1940s. The couple invited theatrical luminaries such as Sybil Thorndike, Ralph Richardson and Dirk Bogarde to appear in concerts of words and music, events that drew large audiences to the Royal Festival Hall.