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
CONCERT SCHEDULE
NEWS
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...
Recording of Smetana’s Má vlast wins BBC Music Magazine Award
On April 23rd BBC Music Magazine announced the winners of its 2025 Awards, presenting the Orchestral Award to the Czech Philharmonic’s recording of Smetana’s Má vlast conducted by Chief Conductor and Music Director, Semyon Bychkov and recorded in January 2021 during...
50 years ago
50 years ago to the day I left Russia in search of freedom. I was able to take my music scores with me, amongst which were creations of Shostakovich. How symbolic it is then that the 5th Symphony of Shostakovich is featured on the program of tonight’s concert at...
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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.
