In an amazing concert on November 27, 2025, Semyon Bychkov conducts the Concertgebouw Orchestra, playing Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 and Schubert's Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished", as well as Sergei Prokofiev's - Piano Concerto No. 1 with Evgeny Kissin at the piano. Get tickets now!

Superb sounds at the Concertgebouw

Together with the superb orchestral musicians, master pianist Evgeny Kissin throws himself into Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a veritable whirlwind of musical ideas. Hidden amidst all the pianistic fireworks is a shimmering gem - the warm, sensual Andante assai.

Semyon Bychkov opens the concert with Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished" in B Minor. No one quite knows why this lyrical work consists of only two movements. Did Schubert stop working on it because he felt he couldn’t surpass Beethoven after all? In any event, Schubert never got to experience the work’s later popularity for himself.

Twenty years earlier, Beethoven composed his Symphony No. 2, a work brimming with a lust for life and bursting with musical inventions and jokes that still shocked audiences on the threshold of the nineteenth century. Find out more about the concert on the Concertgebouw Orchestra website.

About the conductor Semyon Bychkov

Semyon Bychkov has been the chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra since 2018. He was a student of Ilya Musin in Leningrad, emigrated to the United States in his twenties and settled in Europe in the 1980s.

He made his name as music director of the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and has held similar positions with the Orchestre de Paris (1989), the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne (1997) and the Semperoper in Dresden (1998). Bychkov has regularly guest-conducted the Vienna, Munich and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Photo: Milagro Elstak

At the Concertgebouw Orchestra, he has been a regular guest since 1984. Most recently, in April 2025, he conducted Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony.

Bychkov has worked with contemporary composers such as Bryce Dessner, Detlev Glanert, Thierry Escaich and Thomas Larcher. Opera is a crucial field of work for him; he has led numerous productions at the Royal Opera Covent Garden (debut 2003), the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Opéra de Paris, the Staatsoper Wien, La Scala in Milan, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Salzburg Festival and the Bayreuth Festival.

Semyon Bychkov holds honorary positions at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He was named Conductor of the Year in 2015 at the International Opera Awards and in 2022 by Musical America.

Concert programme

Here is the concert programme:

• Franz Schubert - Symphony No. 8 "Unfinished"
• Sergei Prokofiev - Piano Concerto No. 1
• Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 2

Performers

Here are the performers:

• Semyon Bychkov, conductor
• Evgeny Kissin, piano
• Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

About the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra was founded in 1888. Its distinctive sound has made it one of the world’s leading orchestras. 

The orchestra is famous for its renditions of works by Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss and Anton Bruckner, and for its long-standing concert traditions such as the St Matthew Passion in the week before Easter and the Christmas Matinee. It has always worked closely with contemporary composers.

The Concertgebouw Orchestra has had just seven chief conductors to date. The eighth was announced in 2022: Klaus Mäkelä joined as artistic partner in 2022-23 season and will become chief conductor in 2027. The coming season sees five extraordinary programmes with Klaus Mäkelä at the helm. 

Get your tickets

Get your concert tickets online. The ticket price includes a complimentary glass of wine before the concert and at the interval, as well as free cloakroom use.

Check out the Concertgebouw Orchestra website for more information about the concert programme and the performers! The ticket price includes a complimentary glass of wine before the concert and at the interval, as well as free cloakroom use.