Semyon Bychkov

Semyon Bychkov is a Russian-born conductor who has led major orchestras across Europe and the United States. He is known for large-scale Romantic and Russian repertoire, and here he leads the New York Philharmonic in a program pairing Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto with pianist Emanuel Ax and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, opening with George Walker's Lyric for Strings.

Bychkov favors broad, patiently unfolding tempos that let orchestral textures build in full, rather than rushing toward climaxes. Listeners can expect Walker's Lyric for Strings to sound warm and elegiac, its long string lines given room to breathe. In the Beethoven concerto, expect a conversational balance between orchestra and piano, with Bychkov shaping the orchestra's phrases to answer and frame Emanuel Ax's playing rather than compete with it. Pictures at an Exhibition, originally a piano work orchestrated by Ravel, is where Bychkov's ear for color tends to show most: watch for the way he lets individual instruments, a saxophone, a tuba, sound like distinct characters walking through a gallery, and for how he paces the recurring "Promenade" theme so each return feels changed by what came before.