This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we remember conductor Jerzy Semkow, who died on December 23 at the age of 86.

Semkow, Polish by birth, was a longtime resident of Paris. He apprenticed with Erich Kleiber, Bruno Walter and Tullio Serafin. He was assistant conductor of the Leningrad Philharmonic under Yevgeny Mravinsky.

Later, he held posts as principal conductor of the National Opera in Warsaw, principal conductor of the Royal Danish Opera and the Royal Danish Orchestra in Copenhagen, and music director of the Orchestra of Radio-Televisione Italiana in Rome (RIA).

Semkow was the ninth music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra (where he served from 1975 to 1979), as well as music advisor and principal conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic (where he served from 1985 to 1989). He was a regular guest conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for some 40 years. His last appearance there was in 2009.

Though he made some respectable Beethoven and Wagner recordings for the Vox label, I thought we’d honor him with two works by his compatriot, Karol Szymanowski, both of them issued on EMI. We’ll hear Szymanowski’s “Symphonie concertante,” for piano and orchestra, and his Symphony No. 3, subtitled “Song of the Night,” for tenor, chorus and large orchestra, an opulent setting of poetry by Rumi.

I hope you’ll join me for “A Send-Off for Semkow,” tonight at 10 ET, with a repeat Wednesday evening at 6, or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

PHOTOS: Polish up on your Polish with Semkow and Szymanowski