Maestro Bychkov is now in his second week of rehearsals at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten. Directed by Claus Guth, the production runs for 7 performances with the opening night on Friday 14th March, and performances continuing through Wednesday 2nd April. During this period he also works with the Royal Academy of Music’s Concert Orchestra, introducing the students to Franz Schmidt’s neglected, lushly romantic Second Symphony (at 1pm on Friday 28th March), and once the Royal Opera performances are behind him, he turns to two summits of Classical symphonic writing and makes his debut with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducting Beethoven’s Seventh, and the ‘heavenly length’ of Schubert’s ‘Great’ C major, in Basingstoke on 5th April and London’s Royal Festival Hall on 8th April.
