On 15 January 2016, in a presentation ceremony held in advance of his concert with the Academy Symphony Orchestra, Semyon Bychkov was awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music (HonRAM). Semyon holds the Klemperer Chair of Conducting at the Royal Academy and afterwards conducted its students in a performance of Strauss’s Don Juan and Tchaikovsky’s Francesca da Rimini. He joins a roster of holders of the distinction of HonRAM that includes Felix Mendelssohn, Luciano Berio, Sir Colin Davis, Otto Klemperer, and Pierre Boulez.
In his citation, Dr Raymond Holden said that “In short, Semyon Bychkov’s visits are amongst the most important in the Academy’s calendar and our pride in his association with us is palpable. Without question, he is a musician’s musician and a beacon of artistic probity whose cultural legacy will shine for decades to come.”
Responding, Bychkov said of his visits to the Academy “The first time I entered this building some years ago – you know sometimes it happens in life when we go somewhere and suddenly we feel that we belong without knowing anything – I realised there was a feeling about it that makes you feel welcome, warm, belonging and in the right place. That is what happened, and every time that I come back the feeling is very much confirmed – in fact it never goes away. The attachment to this noble institution is somehow permanent. Even when I’m not here, I’m thinking of this place.”
You can read Semyon Bychkov’s full response here:
http://www.ram.ac.uk/about-us/blog/jonathan-freeman-attwood/semyon-bychkov