Semyon Bychkov launches his new season in Paris where he returns to conduct the Orchestre de Paris (22-24 September) for the first time since 1998. His programme for his return is Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 Resurrection, the work he programmed for his inaugural concert as Music Director in 1989.
A week later, he travels to Prague for the launch of the Czech Philharmonic’s 126th season and his fourth year as the Orchestra’s Chief Conductor and Music Director. The season opens with Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony, a work that has a deep significance for Bychkov who was born in Leningrad and whose mother lived through the 900 days of the Leningrad siege. The work received its second performance during the siege. The first performance on 29 September will be broadcast live on Czech TV and the second on 30 September, streamed live on takt1 so international audiences can tune in.