Maestro move: Czechs nail down Bychkov

Maestro move: Czechs nail down Bychkov

News

norman lebrecht

September 28, 2022

The Czech Philharmonic has tied down Semyon Bychkov as music director for five more years, keeping him until 2028.

Bychkov, 69, stepped up in 2018 after the death of Jiri Belohlavek.

Comments

  • Stephen R Gould says:

    “Maestro no move”, surely? Smart by the Czechs.

  • Evan Tucker says:

    They’re beginning to look like a golden age.

  • Concertgebouw79 says:

    Maybe the best Tchaikovsky conductors of the last years. His concerts with the RCO were fantastics. I remember a 5th in a complety empty Concertgebouw who was fatastic. With the Czech Philharmonic I’am not afraid that it would be very good also.

  • Greg Bottini says:

    Bychkov is marvelous.
    Good move, CPO!

  • Gerry Feinsteen says:

    Last week it was Znaider, this week Bychkov: ‘nailed down’ is an odd idiom to use with these two in particular, and during High Holy Days.

  • Una says:

    Very illuminating interview between Semyon Bychkov and Bruce Duffie in Chicago, originally for WNIB Classical 97 radio station, but then since I enjoyed transcribing not so long ago.

    http://www.bruceduffie.com/bychkov.html

    • AD says:

      That’s a truly great interview. A part from the musical insights (which are really interesting), to me the most fascinating aspect is the fact of it being recorded in 1988. Reading the interview today, knowing, retrospectively, what was going to happen a few months later in Berlin and Eastern Europe (including Karajan’s fate) is truly fascinating.

  • MacroV says:

    They seem to have a good situation, with Bychkov as MD and Jakub Hrusa and Tomas Netopil as very engaged principal guest conductors (and with Manfred Honeck and now hopefully Sir Simon making occasional appearances). And a new hall by 2032 (too far away, but at least there’s a plan).

  • Bone says:

    So glad to see Bychkov getting the respect and admiration he deserves. Wonderful conductor!

  • Barry Guerrero says:

    In concert I’ve seen really good Mahler 6 performances from Bernstein, Zinman, Tilson-Thomas (not so great) and others. The best one I’ve attended? . . . . Bychkov/Vienna Phil. by a mile!

  • Rabengeraun says:

    I really can’t understand why the Concertgebouw didn’t choose him. As someone mentioned above, his Tchaikovsky 5 with them was superb, as was his Nutcracker at one of the Kerstmatinees

  • Alan Heatherington says:

    Decidedly one of the greatest conductors/artists of our time, often incomparable. We heard his Sacre with the Czech Philharmonic In July, and it will remain among the most incredible performances I have ever experienced. His Carnegie Hall performance with the BPO is indelibly fixed in my memory as a treasured life experience. Some things cannot be equalled or repeated. The Czech Philharmonic has done the perfect thing for its musicians and audiences.

  • MOST READ TODAY: