No music for Semyon Bychkov is more essential or closer to the bone than Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. In January 1974 it was the work that he chose for his exam at the Leningrad Conservatory and, in January 1985 the piece he chose for his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. This spring from 2-15 March, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death, Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic will take Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony and his Cello Concerto No. 1 to five European cities: Vienna, Amsterdam, London, Paris and Bruges.
Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic European Tour
