The Scottish Chamber Orchestra has named Maxim Emelyanychev as its new principal conductor. He will replace Robin Ticciati, who moved to the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in the 2017/2018 season.

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Emelyanychev took on the role of guest conductor as an emergency substitute for Ticciati in March, and his direction of Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 and Dvořák’s Violin Concerto at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall was met with particular acclaim.

Like his predecessor Ticciati, Emelyanychev began conducting at an early age, making his debut at age 12. Since then, he has worked with many Russian and international orchestras. Born in 1988 to a family of musicians, he studied piano and conducting at the Nizhny Novgorod Music School and then with Gennady Rozhdestvensky in Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory before embarking on a successful career.

He is principal conductor of Nizhny-Novgorod Youth Symphony Orchestra and is currently conducting Joyce DiDonato and Il Pomo d’Oro Orchestra (of which he is also principal conductor) in a cross-Europe tour.

Next season, as well as taking up the post of SCO principal conductor, Emelyanychev will conduct, amongst others, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and will make his debut at Glyndebourne 2019 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in a production of Handel’s Rinaldo.

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