Semyon Bychkov performs this week in Rome with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.  The concerts at the Auditorium Parco della Musica are on 17th, 19th, and 20th January and feature Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto performed by Renaud Capuçon and Schmidt’s monumental 2nd Symphony.  For more details, see the Santa Cecilia website - www.santacecilia.it

Maestro Bychkov’s Straussian credentials were recalled in Boulezian (Mark Berry’s) round up of 2014: “the Royal Opera gave anniversary-boy Strauss his full due in a terrific Frau ohne Schatten. Semyon Bychkov showed not only what a great Straussian he is, but what a great orchestra the Covent Garden players can be under the right conductor. Comparisons with the very finest Continental orchestras were not remotely amiss on this occasion. My first act upon returning home from the first night was to buy myself a ticket for a subsequent performance. […] Back to Strauss – and back to Bychkov. His Proms Elektra once again offered Londoners the very finest of Straussian understanding. This was a musico-dramatic reading that needed no elaborate staging for the work to make its shattering impact.”