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
Semyon Bychkov’s inaugural season with the Czech Philharmonic was celebrated with a tour that took the orchestra from Prague to London, New York, and Washington. The following year saw the completion of The Tchaikovsky Project – 7 CDs devoted to Tchaikovsky’s symphonic repertoire – and international residencies. In his first season with the Czech Philharmonic, Bychkov instigated the commissioning of 14 works premiered by the Czech Philharmonic and orchestras worldwide. Bychkov marked 2024’s Year of Czech Music by touring with the Czech Philharmonic to South Korea, Japan, Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and France. The year culminated with a three-day residency at Carnegie Hall, where they were joined by the Prague Philharmonic Choir for Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass. Additionally, PENTATONE released the orchestra’s recordings of Smetana’s Má vlast – awarded BBC Music Magazine’s Orchestral Recording of the Year 2025 – and Dvořák’s last three symphonies conducted by Bychkov.
CONCERT SCHEDULE
August 2025
BAYREUTHER FESTSPIELE – WAGNER: TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
BAYREUTHER FESTSPIELE – WAGNER: TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
BAYREUTHER FESTSPIELE – WAGNER: TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
BAYREUTHER FESTSPIELE – WAGNER: TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
BAYREUTHER FESTSPIELE – WAGNER: TRISTAN UND ISOLDE
NEWS
Bychkov returns to Bayreuth Festival to conduct Tristan und Isolde
There was orchestral luxury down in the pit, where Semyon Bychkov conducts a slow and spacious performance with the music sinking into a velvety cushion of rich sonorities. . . his slow-burn Wagner pays off and was wonderfully well played, earning him an ovation....
Prague Spring Closing Concert
This year, Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic will give both the opening and closing concerts of the Prague Spring International Festival, currently celebrating its 80th anniversary. Since the inaugural Festival in 1946, the Festival has always opened with a...
Semyon Bychkov opens 80th anniversary edition of Prague Spring
Next week, Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic open the 80th anniversary edition of Prague Spring with a performance of Smetana’s Má vlast. Their recording of the work was last month awarded BBC Music Magazine’s Orchestral Recording 2025 and, as Semyon Bychkov...
FEATURED VIDEO
FEATURED ALBUM
Mahler: Symphony No. 3
Pentatone releases Mahler’s Symphony No. 3
The Czech Philharmonic’s Mahler cycle, conducted by Chief Conductor and Music Director, Semyon Bychkov, continues in with the release of Mahler Symphony No. 3 with mezzo-soprano, Catriona Morrison and the Women of the Prague Philharmonic Choir. Symphony No. 3 marks the fifth release in the cycle. The Czech Philharmonic’s Mahler cycle for PENTATONE launched in 2022 with the release of Mahler Symphony No. 4 and, subsequently Symphonies Nos. 5, 2 and 1.
