This month, Semyon Bychkov focuses on Mahler’s Third Symphony with performances first in Hamburg and then in London. Over three nights at the beginning of June (2, 3 and 5), he will be heard conducting the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester. A couple of weeks later on 23 June, Bychkov conducts the students of the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal Festival Hall as part of RAM’s bicentenary celebrations this year.

In a recent interview with Presto Music, Bychkov explained how his first ever contact with Mahler’s music was a chance encounter with the Third Symphony aged 13 in St Petersburg where he grew up.