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Semyon Bychkov has enjoyed many long-term relationships with the world’s most renowned opera houses, including Covent Garden, The New York Metropolitan, La Scala, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Vienna, Dresden and Paris Opera.

One of the happiest of these associations has been with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. “The very first time I came there was for a new production of Elektra. While I was waiting at the security desk to be shown to my dressing room, they asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee.

“When the porter is nice, somehow you have a feeling it will be the same throughout the house. And that has proved exactly the case at Covent Garden. They are magnificent people to work with, making clear their expectation of quality in a very quiet way, with no speech-making. For those of us who are not British it is actually very endearing.”

Elektra was followed by Boris Godunov, then Pique Dame (Queen of Spades), with Lohengrin, Don Carlo and Tannhäuser to follow. Boris Godunov was also a success for Bychkov at the New York Met, where he is looking forward to returning for Otello. Another house that has extended the hand of friendship is Paris. “The day I finished the recent run of Ballo in Maschera, the orchestra asked me to send them a dedicated photo which they will put on their wall. This is a very rare honour! Bychkov will be returning to conduct Tristan with the Paris Opera, including performances in Japan and at the Bolshoi.

Bychkov has also had conspicuous success with another of the world’s most demanding opera audiences: the Vienna State Opera. “This has been one of the most thrilling chapters in my life. After Elektra and Tristan there, I conducted a new production of Daphne, which was a discovery for everybody, because it hadn’t been performed there since Böhm conducted a few performances 30 years ago.

“I kept being asked ‘What’s so interesting about Daphne?’ The questions and scepticism stopped the moment they heard the music. The atmosphere in that house is so electric that you need the fire brigade standing by because you never know when the flames will appear. It’s a hot public. It’s a hot acoustic, which helps of course. People really want to be there.”

After the revelation of virtually unknown Daphne came the new Lohengrin production, which has forever remained favorite of all the Wagner operas in Vienna.

In both operatic and orchestral repertoire, Semyon Bychkov has worked extensively in Italy. He is a frequent guest at La Scala, where he appears every season in the orchestral series, and where he will conduct a new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten in 2012. This follows previous productions of Tosca and Elektra.

“My relationship with Italy started in Florence. I was invited to conduct the Maggio Musicale orchestra, and it was such a warm first contact that they asked me to become their principal guest conductor, a position I held from 1992-1998.

“This was another opportunity to get under the skin of a particular style of music, to know the repertoire as a resident rather than a tourist. I even conducted La bohème in my second season in Florence, being at that time too naive to realise the risk I was taking. Only after the successful first night was I told I’d been lucky to come out of it alive!

“Italians identify with the melody and text, which form the basis of opera “But an interesting phenomenon has been happening in the last 15 years: young Italian musicians have studied abroad. They are very aware of the variety of musical expression dictated by the music itself. They understand instinctively that they can’t play Brahms the way they would Puccini.

“If I am to learn a foreign language, my aim is to try and speak it as much as possible with an inflection of the natives. When you make music, you try to do the same. Inevitably there will be some accent present – I can always tell if it is a Russian orchestra playing, or German, or French, or Italian. That’s part of the charm, and I absolutely treasure that. No matter how much you try to unify Europe, however much smaller the world is becoming because of improved communications and shared cultures, in the final analysis no one can ever really change national character. That is something you inherit when you are born. It comes with your mother’s milk.”