Semyon Bychkov will succeed Gustavo Dudamel as music director of the Paris Opera starting in August 2028, the company’s general director Alexander Neef said Tuesday.

The 73-year-old Bychkov agreed to a four-year contract and will conduct two operas and six symphonic concerts per season, Neef said.

Dudamel quit as the Paris Opera’s music director in May 2023, two seasons into a six-year contract. He announced his Paris departure three months after announcing he was leaving the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the New York Philharmonic in 2026-27.

“After the departure of Gustavo Dudamel from the Paris Opera, there were some what I would call vibrations coming out of the house towards me,” Bychkov said during a telephone interview Tuesday.

He became music director of the Czech Philharmonic in 2018 and in September 2022 agreed to a contract through the 2027-28 season, so Bychkov put off further commitments. He said he was approached again last August at a dinner after a concert by the Paris Opera orchestra at the Ravel Festival in........

© The Times of Israel