NEWS

Following acclaimed performances with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and with the students of London’s Royal Academy of Music, and Vienna’s University of Music and the Performing Arts (where he was awarded the Medal of Honour for his concerts with the Webern...

Quality is not negotiable: Semyon Bychkov – Principal conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln 1997-2010 Contributions from staff and players as printed in Semyon Bychkov’s final WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln concert programme, June 2010 “What really impressed me...

“As Semyon Bychkov takes his leave of the WDR Symphony Orchestra after nearly a decade and a half, he discusses his final project with the Cologne-based band whose fortunes he has transformed – an award-winning recording of Lohengrin. ‘The only reason to do it is...

Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger, June 2010 “Nach 13 Jahren als Chefdirigent des WDR-Sinfonieorchesters verlässt Semyon Bychkov Köln. Es ist ein Abschied voller Stolz. Ein Gespräch über Jahre mit vielen Höhepunkten, neue Aufgaben und die Uniformität der Musik. Herr Bychkov, 13...

“The conductor Semyon Bychkov, 56, was born in Leningrad (now St Petersburg) in the last months of Stalin’s rule and emigrated to the US in 1975. His appointments have included music director of the Orchestra de Paris, principal guest conductor of the Maggio Musicale...

Classical Source, Mansel Stimpson, September 2009 “As his website attests, Semyon Bychkov’s life is one rich in incident. To win a major conducting competition, the Rachmaninov, by the age of twenty one would be sufficient in itself to mark out his early life as...

Diapason, June 2007 “Comment est née votre affection pour la France? ‘C’est le pre-mier pays européen à m’avoir accueilli si chaleureusement. En 1983, j’ai dirigé Casse-Noisette de Tchaikovski à l’Opéra de Lyon ; l’année suivante, j’étais au Festival d’Aix-en-Provence...

The Daily Telegraph, November 2006 “It’s 6.30pm in a restaurant in Covent Garden, London, and the waitress has been waiting some time for the excitable, slightly jowly man with the black eyes and dark curly hair sitting opposite me to say whether he likes the wine....

La Stampa, June 2006 “Listening to him while he conducts is like unrolling a precious piece of fabric, hold it against the light and discover in the weave all the emotions of its maker. Semyon Bychkov is one of those exceptional conductors whose elegance and...

The Financial Times, June 2006 “Guest of the world’s greatest opera houses and renowned interpreter of 20th century classics, Paris based Semyon Bychkov is chief conductor of WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. Next month, he conducts Lohengrin in Vienna: ‘Perhaps because...

Gramophone, November 2005 “Now that we have allegedly reached CD-Dämmerung, at least so far as the classical recording industry is concerned, events such as this autumn’s simultaneous release of Daphne and Elektra are not supposed to happen. Even a few decades ago in...