Kirill Karabits OBE

Kirill Karabits has been Chief Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for 15 years, and their relationship is celebrated worldwide. Together, they have made many critically acclaimed recordings, performed regularly at the BBC Proms, celebrated the re-opening of Bristol Beacon, appeared together at London’s Barbican Centre as part of the Beethoven celebrations and at Southbank Centre for Kirill’s bold programming brand Voices from the East.

Highlights of the 2024/25 season include Kirill’s debut performances with the Orchestre de Paris and SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, return visits to Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, Belgrade Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, and the Norwegian Opera for a new production of Stravinsky’s The Rakes Progress Opera. He also embarks on a major South African Tour with the Mzansi National Philharmonic. In his title of Conductor Emeritus, Kirill returns to Bournemouth Symphony for a dazzling Voices-from-the-East-inspired programme.

As guest conductor, Kirill has worked with many leading orchestras, including the Münchner Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, and in North America with Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Toronto Symphony and The Cleveland Orchestra.

A prolific opera conductor, Kirill has worked with the Deutsche Oper (Don Giovanni), Opernhaus Zürich (Boris Godunov, La Bohème), 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 conducted a performance of Der fliegende Holländer at the Wagner Geneva Festival in celebration of the composer’s anniversary.