Jerzy Semkow

Jerzy Semkow ( born October 12, 1928 in Radomsko ) is a Polish conductor.

He studied conducting with Artur Malawski in Krakow (1946-1951) and Yevgeny Alexandrovich Mravinsky in Leningrad ( 1951-1953 ). He studied with Erich Kleiber and Bruno Walter, before he became chief conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre. His large repertoire includes, inter alia, from Mozart to Szymanowski, Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven to the Russian Romantics.

He worked in the following institutions:

  • Leningrad Philharmonic ( Assistant Conductor, 1956-1956 )
  • Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (Conductor, 1956-1958 )
  • Opera Warszawska ( artistic director from 1958 to 1959; Conductor 1958-1961 )
  • Royal Opera in Copenhagen ( artistic director and principal conductor from 1965 to 1970 )
  • Cleveland Symphony Orchestra (Conductor 1970-1971 )
  • Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra ( artistic director and principal conductor from 1975 to 1979 )
  • Orchestra of the Italian radio and television RAI in Rome ( Artistic Director 1979-1982 )
  • Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra ( artistic director and principal conductor from 1985 to 1993 )

Semkow specialized in classical and romantic symphonies. He also taught at the University of Colorado, at Yale University and at New York's Manhattan School of Music.

For a long time he lived in Paris and has French citizenship. He is professor emeritus and occurs only rarely, so once a year at the Warsaw Philharmonic.

In 2000 he was awarded et des Lettres by the French Ordre des Arts. He received an honorary doctorate from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw ( 2005).

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