Semyon Bychkov
Following two concerts at the BBC Proms featuring Verdi’s Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, Semyon Bychkov’s 2011-12 season opens with three performances conducting the Berlin Philharmonic before travelling to Spain where he will open the new season at Madrid’s Teatro Real. Later in November, Bychkov will conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, before returning to Europe to tour Italy, France and Poland with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Consistent with previous seasons, this brief snapshot of Bychkov’s 2011-2012 season gives an insight into his approach to music making. Alongside core repertoire by Strauss, Rachmaninov, Schubert and Brahms, for which Bychkov has built an enviable reputation, is Walton’s Symphony No. 1 which he recently conducted with the London Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco and WDR Symphony Orchestras, and the Oslo Philharmonic, and which he will subsequently bring to the Munich Philharmonic; in Berlin, Bychkov’s programme opens with Rendering composed by his friend and colleague, Luciano Berio and which he conducted with the Berlin Philharmonic for the first time in 1991; and, in Los Angeles, Bychkov will conduct the first performance of a newly commissioned Concerto for two pianos by Richard Dubugnon.
With each engagement there is both a history and a raison d’être. Verdi’s Requiem at the Proms brings Bychkov back to a composer that he became obsessed with at the age of 10, a work that has been important to him since he first conducted it in Paris in the late 90’s, and reunites him with Ferruccio Furlanetto who he first conducted in Rossini’s Stabat Mater in the late 80’s. Bychkov’s history with Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 has been shorter, however this year alone he has conducted the work with the Vienna Philharmonic in Austria, Germany and on tour in the United States and with the Filharmonica della Scala in Italy, Spain, Greece and Germany.
In Madrid, Bychkov opens the Teatro Real’s season with ten performances of Strauss’ Elektra, the opera with which he made his Covent Garden debut nearly ten years ago. Bychkov who, during his 13-year tenure with the WDR Symphony Orchestra committed Elektra to disc with Deborah Polaski in the title role, will be joined by her for four of the Madrid performances. His first staged performances of the opera were in Dresden, and later at the Vienna Staatsoper and at La Scala, Milan.
In the United States, Bychkov conducts three performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and four with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In both cities his soloists will be the duo pianists, Katia and Marielle Labèque. They will give the world première of Swiss composer, Richard Dubugnon’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Double Orchestra in Los Angeles, and Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in Chicago. Bychkov has collaborated with the pianists on numerous projects over almost 30 years and is married to Marielle Labèque.
Returning to Europe to conduct the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in Italy and France, Bychkov will be joined by Renaud and Gautier Capuçon for performances of Brahms’ Double Concerto. Following the tour, Renaud Capuçon will continue with Bychkov to Turin to perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto, as part of an on-going Brahms Cycle that completes in June 2012 and includes two performances of each of the four symphonies. Bychkov will return to his native Russia for the final concerts of 2011. He will conduct Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with the Russian National Orchestra, the work that he will conduct in London with the LSO the following April.
The latter part of Bychkov’s season is dominated by two operas: Die Frau ohne Schatten at La Scala, and La Bohème at Covent Garden. Highly praised for his interpretations of Richard Strauss, Bychkov has conducted Ariadne auf Naxos (Dresden, Aix-en-Provence); Daphne (Vienna and on disc for Decca); Der Rosenkavalier (Salzburg Festival, Dresden, Aix-en-Provence); Salomé (Paris); as well as Elektra. This co-production with La Scala and Covent Garden will be Bychkov’s first performances of Die Frau ohne Schatten, in which his frequent collaborator, the tenor Johann Botha will sing the role of Der Kaiser. Two months later at Covent Garden, Bychkov will conduct a revival of John Copley’s much-loved production of La Bohème.
While in Milan, Bychkov will conduct symphonic repertoire with the Filharmonica della Scala, and in London with the London Symphony Orchestra.
http://www.semyonbychkov.com
