Bychkov, Semyon

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Bychkov, Semyon

Bychkov, Semyon, Russian-born American conductor; b. Leningrad, Nov. 30, 1952. He was the brother of Yakov Kreizberg. He attended the Glinka Choir School in Leningrad as a youth; subsequently studied with Ilya Musin at the Leningrad Cons., graduating in 1974. In 1975 he emigrated to the U.S., where he received an Artist Diploma from the Mannes Coll. of Music in N.Y. in 1976. From 1980 to 1985 he was music director of the Grand Rapids Sym. Orch. In 1983 he became a naturalized American citizen. After serving as assoc. conductor (1980–81) and principal guest conductor (1981–85) of the Buffalo Phil., he was its music director (1985–89). He subsequently was music director of the Orchestre de Paris (from 1989), and also was principal guest conductor of the orch. of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (from 1992) and of the St. Petersburg Phil. (from 1992).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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