H O P E D I M A R I A : B I O
Hope DiMaria is a musical theater violinist whose spirited and emotional approach to the violin has led her to work with Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award winning musicians. While she is now based out of New York City, the city of Boston has been incredibly important to her journey, and a place she’ll always hold dear. Hope’s passion also extends to performing with folk singer/songwriters and recording film scores. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music with concentrations in Violin Performance and Music Business. Hope spent the first half of her undergraduate career receiving classical training from The Boston Conservatory. Read more below.
During her time in Boston, Hope was active in the musical theater scene there. Most recently, she performed in Boston Conservatory’s productions of Next to Normal and City of Angels, under the musical direction of Broadway conductor/arranger Kevin Stites. She has enjoyed playing as concertmaster in various original musical premieres in Boston, including The American Siren and The Mountain and Her Mortals. She has also performed as concertmaster for productions of Into the Woods, Les Miserables, Legally Blonde,The Addams Family, and Once with various theater companies in Boston (most recently Boxcar Stage Company and New Ground Theater Company). Outside of Boston, Hope was chosen to play in the premiere of a number of new musical theater works in New York City, collaborating with up and coming theater composers.
Hope performed with the Boston Conservatory Symphony Orchestra in various venues within the city, most notably Symphony Hall (home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra), Mechanic’s Hall, and Sander’s Theater at Harvard University. She has also performed on the stages of The Fenway Center, Boston Center for the Arts, The Strand Theater, The Dante Alighieri Society, and St. Cecilia’s Parish.
In 2022, Hope had the privilege of recording with Grammy winning film score legend Alan Silvestri, playing his Forrest Gump Suite and Captain America End Credits in the studio. Hope was honored to have been a soloist and concertmaster at an awards gala honoring The Roots bassist Mark Kelley (seen on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon), and a number of other distinguished film scorers and performers in March of 2023. That night, she also performed a solo of the beloved jazz standard Misty accompanied by an orchestra for honoree and violinist Quinton Morris who was in the audience. This was inspired by Morris’ performance of this standard from his 2013 TED Talk. The previous year, she was Assistant Concertmaster at The Lenox, surprising distinguished Marvel composer Pinar Toprak with a medley of her own works at the same event. Hope can be heard on a number of new film works, such as the 2022 short film, Confirmation, and an EP of film score works entitled Dragons. Additionally, Hope frequently performs shows and records albums with singer/songwriters in Boston. She can be found frequently performing with artist Anna Vtipil at various venues in the city. The most recent release Hope can be heard on is “Life Supply” by artist Skye (found on all streaming platforms). She is also featured on a Berklee Two Track video, collaborating with Canadian pop artist Ethan Surman. Hope has been lucky enough to record at a variety of renowned studios, a few of them being WGBH Studios, The Record Co., Futura Productions, Shames Family Scoring Stage, and SubCat Studios.
Before her college career, Hope took part in numerous concerto festivals. In 2019, she received a perfect score on her performance of the Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 in b minor. Hope was placed in the most advanced division of the Symphoria Youth Orchestra based in her hometown of Syracuse, which draws dedicated young musicians from all over the greater Central New York Area. She served as Principal Second Violinist of this orchestra under Maestro Christian Capocaccia- accomplished Italian conductor of orchestras and operas across the globe. In 2019, she was one of a select group of musicians chosen from around the world for the NYU Summer Strings Institute where she spent the summer performing in New York City and receiving one-on-one coaching from some of the most established musicians in NYC. She spent the previous summer at the Ithaca College Summer Music Academy, and served as concertmaster of the orchestra there.
Hope has had extensive private studies with such notable artists as Christian Hebel (Broadway Concertmaster/Film & TV Session Musician/Barbara Streisand Solo Violinist), Jason Anick (Acclaimed Jazz Violinist), Saul Bitran (1st Violinist in Grammy Award winning Cuarteto Latinoamericano), Lynn Chang (Paganini Competition Winner/Yo-Yo Ma Collaborator), Edgar Tumajyan (Syracuse Symphony/ Solo and Chamber Musician), Meghan Todt Williams ( New York Pops, NYU Faculty), Stephanie Baer (Broadway Principal Violist/ Philip Glass Collaborator).
Hope’s biggest influence is her mentor Christian Hebel, who is a highly regarded violinist of the stage and screen, and has coached Hope in her career since 2020. Her favorite musical is The Last Five Years, or anything else that Jason Robert Brown will write. She loves reading, embroidery, nature, journaling, and her wonderful family (including Lily, her adorable 12 year old Golden Retriever at home in Syracuse).
Hope is most passionate about music that conveys the beauty of deep and raw human emotion, and hopes that her music heals and connects people. She ultimately aspires to play in a Broadway pit orchestra and in soundtracks for films, and perform with folk artists, but she keeps an open yet determined mind as she approaches her musical goals.