Semyon Mayevich Bychkov (Russian: Семён Маевич Бычков; born November 30, 1952, Leningrad) is a Russian-Born conductor.
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Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) to Jewish parents, Bychkov studied at the Glinka Choir School for ten years and later at the Leningrad Conservatory with Ilya Musin.[1] During his studies at the Conservatory he played volleyball in the Leningrad Dynamo.[1]
In 1973 he won the Rachmaninov Conducting Competition and was asked to conduct the Leningrad Philharmonic, a great honour in the Soviet Russia. His family suffered from official antisemitism and he decided to leave the country.[1]
In 1974, he emigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union. Bychkov attended Mannes College The New School for Music and was director of the Mannes College Orchestra.[1] From 1980 to 1985, Semyon Bychkov served as music director of the Grand Rapids Symphony and as principal guest conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He became music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic in 1985 and held that post until 1989. On 4 July 1983, he became a United States citizen.[2]
From 1989 to 1998, Bychkov was music director of the Orchestre de Paris. He became chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne in Cologne in 1997, and held the post until 2010.[3] In February 2011, he was appointed as Otto Klemperer Chair of Conducting Studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London.[4][1]
Bychkov is married to the pianist Marielle Labèque. His brother was the conductor Yakov Kreizberg.[1]
| Preceded by Julius Rudel |
Music Director, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra 1985–1989 |
Succeeded by Maximiano Valdes |
| Preceded by Hans Vonk |
Principal Conductor, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne 1997–2010 |
Succeeded by Jukka-Pekka Saraste |
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