opera

WAGNER Tannhäuser

Teatre Regio Torino

Displaying the same characteristic thoroughness as he showed when preparing Lohengrin...Bychkov drove the music without it ever sounding driven, and obtained glowing, taut playing from the Regio's fine orchestra.
Opera Magazine, June 2010

Perfect Tannhäuser

The triumph, attributed enthusiastically by the capacity audience to Russian conductor Semyon Bychkov and the cast of top-notch soloists, proved that sometimes the sensational event - staging, décor, costumes – should be set aside, to allow the splendour of the masterpiece to speak for itself, and leave the privilege of creating pure emotion to the music and the voices. And, even without a staging, a performance such as this achieves the perfect fusion of dramatic action and symphonic set.
Noidonne.org, March 10

Well it was not a surprise, but thanks to the masterly conducting of Semyon Bychkov the sound of the orchestra and choir (placed pleasingly within sight) and equally that of the voices of the soloists (standing next to the podium) all without staging or costumes, was simple and appealing. During the whole performance of this gigantic and significant work, Bychkov maintained the tension, with sustained tempi and pure, sweet abandon.
Piemontenews.it, March 10

So as to reproduce the highest degree of tension possible, conductor Semyon Bychkov directed in an Italian style which gripped in a Toscanini-like fashion: with stream-lined tempi, forceful contrasts, tempi that unfurled naturally, explosive phrasing, all of which attracted the audience's attention at every moment, and was aided by the lack of staging.
La Stampa, March 10

VERDI Don Carlo

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Semyon Bychkov coaxed some beautiful sounds from the Royal Opera House orchestra and made patient, loving sense out of the opera's endlessly demanding instrumental palette.
Opera Magazine, November 09

No Verdi opera has more soaring melodies or stirring harmonies, and Semyon Bychkov, new in the pit, was superb both in his highlighting of detail and in his heart-swelling delivery of the many passages of high-flown nobility.
Evening Standard, September 09

Conducting, Semyon Bychkov has big shoes to fill in following Antonio Pappano. At first I wondered if his approach was too weighty, almost Wagnerian, but the dramatic momentum is inexorably and thrillingly built up, and the playing is tremendous...this revival is the Royal Opera at its best.
The Times, September 09

The most successful newcomer is Semyon Bychkov, whose conducting of Lohengrin was one of last season's outstanding memories. He stamps his authority over every bar: the inner orchestral parts, especially Verdi's flute and harp decorations, are a constant joy.
Financial Times, September 09

The heat generated by this scorching revival of Verdi's Don Carlo had little to do with burning heretics or indeed any aspect of Nicholas Hytner's lucid if rather passive staging, but rather the conducting of Semyon Bychkov whose drive and patience ensured that both the urgency and weight of history defining this great score were magnificently served.

Bychkov's triumph was fully to reconcile the sweep and intimacy of Don Carlo. Fine detailing was as significant as grand gesturing in Bychkov's scheme of things. Verdi's simplest colourings, like the bare unison horns carrying us into the vaults of the San Yuste Monastery, were rich in atmosphere and subtext, the musical embodiment of lines like "the sorrows of the world follow us into the cloister". At the other extreme, Bychkov brought electrifying immediacy to key climacterics in the drama. In the scene where Rodrigo takes on the King, Philip II, the fury of his accusation that Philip will rule over "the peace of the grave" unleashes an awesome welter of sound from the depths of Verdi's orchestra. In Bychkov's hands it was as if a huge fissure had opened up in the fabric of the piece. Dramatically speaking, it had, of course.
The Independent, September 09

With his expansive yet tautly dramatic conducting, Semyon Bychkov restores the dignity and grandeur lacking in Hytner's staging to Verdi's magnificent score. He revels in the evocation of a romantic moonlit night in Carlo's botched nocturnal tryst with his stepmother.
The Times, September 09

Chorus and orchestra responded vividly to Semyon Bychkov's sweeping, expansive tempi.
The Guardian, September 09

Semyon Bychkov may not be a glamorous or sensational conductor, but he is the genuine article, honouring the gravitas of the score with wisely measured tempi and a mature sense of Verdian architecture. The orchestra played beautifully for him, and the singers floated some delicately expressive soft passages under his supportive cushion.
The Telegraph, September 09