Kirill Karabits

Kirill Karabits has been Chief Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for 14 years and their relationship has been celebrated worldwide. Together they have made many critically acclaimed recordings, performed regularly at the BBC Proms and appeared together at London’s Barbican Centre as part of the Beethoven celebrations in the 19-20 season.

Karabits has worked with many of the leading ensembles of Europe, Asia and North America, including the Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago Symphony orchestras, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Philharmonia Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro La Fenice and the BBC Symphony Orchestra – including a concertante version of Bluebeard’s Castle at the Barbican Centre.

Recent highlights include Kirill’s debuts with the Dallas Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and the Prague Radio Symphony, as well as return visits to the Minnesota Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Orchestre National Captiole de Toulouse, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, and the Opéra Montpellier for a production of Pélléas, as well as the BBC Proms with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Kirill has also recently enjoyed conducting at the Edinburgh Festival and joining Mikhail Pletnev on extensive European and North American tours which included his New York debut at the Lincoln Center.

Highlights of the 2022-23 season include Kirill’s return to the English National Opera for a production of “Die tote Stadt”, to Opernhaus Zürich for “La Boheme”, and to The Grange Festival for “Così fan tutte”. This season sees Kirill perform with Opéra National de Bordeaux, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, and embark on an extensive Korean Tour conducting the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

A prolific opera conductor, Karabits has worked with the Deutsche Oper, Opernhaus Zürich (Boris Godunov) and Oper Stuttgart (Death in Venice), Glyndebourne Festival Opera (La bohème and Eugene Onegin), Staatsoper Hamburg (Madama Butterfly), English National Opera (Don Giovanni), Bolshoi Theatre and he conducted a performance of Der fliegende Holländer at the Wagner Geneva Festival in celebration of the composer’s anniversary. Music Director of the Deutsches Nationaltheatre Weimar from 2016-19, Karabits conducted acclaimed productions of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Tannhäuser as well as Mozart’s DaPonte Cycle (Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte).

Working with the next generation of bright musicians is of great importance to Karabits and as Artistic Director of I, CULTURE Orchestra he conducted them on their European tour in August 2015 with Lisa Batiashvili as soloist and a summer festivals tour in 2018, including concerts at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Montpellier Festival. In 2012 and 2014 he conducted the televised finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Award (working with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra), and has recently debuted with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain on a UK tour including a sold out and critically acclaimed performance at the Barbican.

Kirill was named Conductor of the Year at the 2013 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards.