Jerzy Semkow

Jerzy Semkow (born October 12, 1928 in Radomsko ; † December 23, 2014 near Lausanne ) was a French conductor of Polish origin.

Career

Semkow studied conducting with Artur Malawski in Kraków (1946–1951) and Yevgeny Alexandrowitsch Mrawinski in Leningrad (1951–1953). He also learned from Erich Kleiber and Bruno Walter before becoming chief conductor at the Bolshoi Theater. His large repertoire ranged from Mozart to Szymanowski , from Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven to the Russian Romantics.

He worked in the following institutions:

Leningrad Philharmonic (assistant to the conductor, 1956)
Bolshoi Theater in Moscow (conductor, 1956–1958)
Opera Warszawska (artistic director 1958–1959; conductor 1958–1961)
Royal Opera in Copenhagen (artistic director and first conductor 1965–1970)
Cleveland Symphony Orchestra (conductor 1970–1971)
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (artistic director and first conductor 1975–1979)
Orchestra of the Italian Radio and Television RAI in Rome (artistic director 1979–1982)
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (artistic director and first conductor 1985–1993)

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

Semkov lived in Paris and was a French citizen. Recently he only appeared rarely, once a year at the Warsaw Philharmonic .

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