Biography

Chief Conductor: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

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Karabits is an inspired architect….He has an energising presence on the podium, without being domineering…he paced the whirlwind finale in a way that brought the house down.

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Kirill Karabits has been Chief Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for 15 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.

Highlights of the 2023-24 season include Kirill’s return to the Dallas Symphony, to the Weimar Staatskapelle conducting the Hungarian premiere of Liszt’s Sardanapalo Opera, and to the Theater an der Wien for a new production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette Opera. Alongside his own Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Kirill will open the season at the newly refurbished Bristol Beacon with a brand new work Beacons, written by Mark Anthony Turnage and dedicated to the venue. On an invitation from the Ludwig van Beethoven Association in Poland, Kirill conducts Krzysztof Penderecki’s momentous Polish Requiem at the opening of the Polish History Museum in Warsaw as part of a series of television recordings for TVP Kultura.

Being regularly present in the world’s leading opera houses, in 2023/24 Karabits conducts a new production of Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the Theatre under Wien with ORF Symphony Orchestra in Vienna.

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Recent highlights 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. Last season saw 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 alongside pianist Sunwook Kim. Kirill has also 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.

A prolific opera conductor, Kirill has worked with the Deutsche Oper, Opernhaus Zürich (Boris Godunov, La Bohème) and Oper Stuttgart (Death in Venice), Glyndebourne Festival Opera (La Bohème, Eugene Onegin), Staatsoper Hamburg (Madama Butterfly), English National Opera (Don Giovanni, Die tote Stadt), The Grange Festival (Così fan tutte) ,and he conducted a performance of Der fliegende Holländer at the Wagner Geneva Festival in celebration of the composer’s anniversary.

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