Semyon Bychkov

Biography

Bychkov and the orchestra marked the 130th anniversary of the founding of the Czech Philharmonic in 2026 with extensive tours of Asia and Europe, and a special anniversary concert of Dvořák and Smetana at the Rudolfinum. 2026 also saw PENTATONE’s release of Mahler’s Nine Symphonies which have been at the centre of Bychkov’s programming with the Czech Philharmonic since commencing his tenure with the orchestra in 2018. In addition to conducting all the symphonies with the Czech Philharmonic at the Rudolfinum in Prague, the orchestra and Bychkov have presented Symphony No. 3 in Baden-Baden; Symphony No. 5 in New York, Toronto, Vienna, London and Paris; Symphony No. 6 in Leipzig, Aix-en-Provence, Milan, Vienna and Graz; and Symphony No. 7 in Luxembourg, Paris, Santander, San Sebastian, and at the Edinburgh Festival. Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 was the last of the symphonies to be committed to disc, recorded following a performance that opened the 80th Prague Spring International Music Festival in 2025.   

During the 2026/2027 season, Bychkov returns to the repertoire of his formative years, and alongside Czech masters will conduct works by Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and Mussorgsky: “What amazes me is how strongly Shostakovich’s existential music resonates in a world which seems, outwardly, very different from the one in which, he was fighting for his life both as a human being and a composer. But maybe we’re all faced with a struggle to be true to ourselves against odds of various kinds, even insidious ideologies which hide their true nature.”    

Semyon Bychkov’s inaugural season with the Czech Philharmonic was launched with a tour that took the orchestra from Prague to London, New York, and Washington. The following year saw the completion of The Tchaikovsky Project – 7 CDs devoted to Tchaikovsky’s symphonic repertoire - and international residencies.  In 2024, The Year of Czech Music, Bychkov and the orchestra toured to South Korea, Japan, Spain, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and France. The Year of Czech Music culminated with a three-day residency at Carnegie Hall, where the Prague Philharmonic Choir joined the orchestra for Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass. Additionally, PENTATONE released Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic’s recordings of Smetana’s Má vlast – awarded BBC Music Magazine’s Orchestral Recording of the Year 2025 – and Dvořák’s last three symphonies.

Bychkov instigated the commissioning of 14 new works which he premiered with the Czech Philharmonic, giving multiple performances internationally including with the Concertgebouworkest, the Vienna, Berlin, New York and Munich Philharmonic Orchestras, Cleveland Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He has built lasting relationships with many extraordinary contemporary composers including Luciano Berio, Henri Dutilleux and Maurizio Kagel. More recent collaborations include those with Julian Anderson, Bryce Dessner, Detlev Glanert, Thierry Escaich and Thomas Larcher.    

In common with the Czech Philharmonic, Bychkov has one foot firmly in the culture of the East and one in the West. Born in Leningrad in 1952, Bychkov emigrated to the United States in 1975 and, since the mid-1980's has lived in Europe. Singled out for an extraordinarily privileged musical education, he was only 17 when he won his place at the Leningrad Conservatoire to study with the legendary Ilya Musin. Within three years Bychkov won the influential Rachmaninoff Conducting Competition but, denied the prize of conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic, he left the former Soviet Union.      

By the time Bychkov returned to St Petersburg in 1989 as the Philharmonic’s Principal Guest Conductor, he had enjoyed success as Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic. His European career, which began in France, took off with a series of high-profile cancellations leading to invitations to conduct the New York and Berlin Philharmonic orchestras and the Concertgebouw. In 1989, he was named Music Director of the Orchestre de Paris; in 1997, Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne; and in 1998, Chief Conductor of the Dresden Semperoper. Bychkov’s 13-year collaboration with WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne produced a series of benchmark recordings that included works by Strauss, Mahler, Shostakovich, Rachmaninov, Verdi, Brahms, York Höller and Detlev Glanert.      

Bychkov conducts in all the major opera houses including La Scala, Opéra national de Paris, Dresden Semperoper, and New York’s Metropolitan Opera. In Vienna, he has conducted new productions of Strauss’ Daphne, Wagner’s Lohengrin and Parsifal, and Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina; while in London he made his operatic debut with a new production of Strauss’ Elektra, and subsequently conducted new productions of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten, Wagner’s Tannhäuser and Dvořák’s Rusalka. His 1992 recording of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin with the Orchestre de Paris was chosen by Opera magazine as one of 30 all-time great opera recordings and, and the recommended recording for BBC’s Radio 3’s Building a Library (2020).  Wagner’s Lohengrin was BBC Music Magazine’s Recording of the Year. Recent productions include Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde at the Bayreuth Festival and Teatro Real, Madrid; as well as a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at Opéra national de Paris.  He will return to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden during the 2026/2027 season. From 1 August 2026, Bychkov will be Music Director Designate of the Paris Opera, assuming the title of Music Director in 2028.   

Combining the attributes of innate musicality and rigorous Russian pedagogy, the warmth of Bychkov’s relationships is reflected in honorary titles at the Royal Academy of Music (Otto Klemperer Chair of Conducting) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Gunther Wand Conducting Chair) - with whom he appears regularly at the BBC Proms. In Europe, he tours with the Concertgebouw and Munich Philharmonic, as well as being a guest of the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Orchestre National de France and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; in the US, he works with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Symphony, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras.  

In 2015, Semyon Bychkov was named Conductor of the Year by the International Opera Awards. He received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Academy of Music in July 2022 and the award for Conductor of the Year from Musical America in October 2022. The Czech Philharmonic was voted Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year in 2024.