On Tuesday 12 July, Semyon Bychkov received an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal Academy of Music alongside composer Lin-Manuel Miranda. Bychkov, who left the Soviet Union before he could graduate from the Leningrad Conservatory, became an Honorary Member of the Academy in 2016 and holds the Klemperer Chair of Conducting. Since 2009, he has come to London to work with the students of the Royal Academy of Music every year. Their most recent performance took place just last month at the Royal Festival Hall when they presented Mahler’s Third Symphony.
Watch Bychkov’s speech from the ceremony here.
Photo (c) Frances Marshall