SEMYON BYCHKOV

Chief Conductor & Music Director – Czech Philharmonic
Otto Klemperer Chair of Conducting – Royal Academy of Music
Günter Wand Conducting Chair – BBC Symphony Orchestra

BIOGRAPHY

For 2024’s Year of Czech Music, Semyon Bychkov’s programmes centred on Dvorak’s last three symphonies, the concertos for piano, violin and cello, and the trilogy of overtures “Nature, Life and Love”. In addition to conducting in Prague’s Rudolfinum, Bychkov and the Orchestra took the all-Dvořák programmes to Korea and across Japan with three concerts in Tokyo’s famed Suntory Hall. Later, in spring, an extensive European tour took the programmes to Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and France and, at the end of 2024, the Year of Czech Music culminated with three concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall. As well as featuring Dvorak’s three concertos, the programmes included three poems from Smetana’s Ma vlast, Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass for which the Orchestra was joined by the Prague Philharmonic Choir. Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic launched 2024’s Year of Czech Music with the release – on Smetana’s 200th birthday – of Smetana’s Má vlast.

CONCERT SCHEDULE

november

22nov7:30 pmKarlovy Vary, Czechia - Czech Philharmonic - Dvořák, Janáček

23nov7:30 pmKarlovy Vary, Czechia - Czech Philharmonic; Ivo Kahánek, piano - Dvořák, Smetana

december

03dec8:00 pmNew York, NY USA - Czech Philharmonic; Yo-Yo Ma, cello - Dvořák, Smetana

04dec8:00 pmNew York, NY USA - Czech Philharmonic; Gil Shaham, violin - Dvořák, Mahler

05dec8:00 pmNew York, NY USA - Czech Philharmonic - Dvořák, Janáček

07dec8:00 pmToronto, Canada - Czech Philharmonic; Daniil Trifonov, piano - Dvořák, Janáček

08dec8:00 pmToronto, Canada - Czech Philharmonic; Jan Mráček, violin - Dvořák, Mahler

CONCERT SCHEDULE

november

22nov7:30 pmKarlovy Vary, Czechia - Czech Philharmonic - Dvořák, Janáček

23nov7:30 pmKarlovy Vary, Czechia - Czech Philharmonic; Ivo Kahánek, piano - Dvořák, Smetana

december

03dec8:00 pmNew York, NY USA - Czech Philharmonic; Yo-Yo Ma, cello - Dvořák, Smetana

04dec8:00 pmNew York, NY USA - Czech Philharmonic; Gil Shaham, violin - Dvořák, Mahler

05dec8:00 pmNew York, NY USA - Czech Philharmonic - Dvořák, Janáček

07dec8:00 pmToronto, Canada - Czech Philharmonic; Daniil Trifonov, piano - Dvořák, Janáček

08dec8:00 pmToronto, Canada - Czech Philharmonic; Jan Mráček, violin - Dvořák, Mahler

NEWS

Czech Philharmonic Named Gramophone’s ‘Orchestra Of The Year’

Czech Philharmonic Named Gramophone’s ‘Orchestra Of The Year’

Winning ‘Orchestra of the Year’ in the 2024 Year of Czech Music – celebrated by arts organisations across the Czech Republic every decade since Bedřich Smetana’s 100th birthday in 1924 – is especially poignant.  The Orchestra’s contribution to the Year of Czech Music...

Dvořák Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 ,9 on Pentatone

Dvořák Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 ,9 on Pentatone

Today, Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic present a new recording of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphonies 7, 8 and 9, coupled with the composer’s concert overtures In Nature’s Realm, Carnival and Othello. The album is part of the 2024 Year of Czech Music. Dvořák’s...

SMETANA’S MA VLAST ON PENTATONE

SMETANA’S MA VLAST ON PENTATONE

Today, Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic mark Bedřich Smetana’s bicentenary (2nd March 1824) with the release of Má vlast, released by PENTATONE. The recording of Má vlast is the Czech Philharmonic’s first release in 2024’s Year of Czech Music, a major...

FEATURED VIDEO

FEATURED ALBUM

Dvořák: Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 ,9

Pentatone releases Antonín Dvořák’s Symphonies 7, 8 and 9

The album is part of the 2024 Year of Czech Music. Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” has been part of Semyon Bychkov’s repertoire since the 80’s when he emigrated to the United States. He first conducted the work with the Czech Philharmonic in 2015 when he returned to conduct the Orchestra. Also featured on the 2-CD release is Dvořák’s overture cycle, Nature, Life and Love composed between Symphony No. 8 and Symphony No. 9.  Although, each work in the cycle, In Nature’s Realm, Carnival and Othello has a clear mood and narrative, sharing a distinctive melodic idea, they are also powerfully symphonic.