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.
Kirill Karabits has worked with many of the leading ensembles of
Europe, Asia and North America, including the Cleveland, Philadelphia,
Dallas, San Francisco and Chicago Symphony orchestras, Munich
Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre de Lyon, Orchestre
Philharmonique de Radio France, London Symphony Orchestra,
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.
Highlights of the 2025-26 season include return visits to London
Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Tokyo
Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra,
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg,
and National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra during the Beethoven
Festival in Poland. Kirill also embarks on a major Chinese Tour
culminating at the Macau International Music Festival, followed by an
appearance at the Seoul Arts Center for the closing concert of the Seoul
International Music Festival. The season will conclude with a two-
month residency conducting La Traviata at the Bregenz Festival with
the Wiener Symphoniker.
Recent highlights include Kirill’s return to the Theater an der Wien for a
new production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, to Opernhaus Zürich for
La Boheme, to The Grange Festival for Così fan tutte, and to the Weimar
Staatskapelle conducting the Hungarian premiere of Liszt’s Sardanapalo
opera. Last season Kirill had debut performances with the Orchestre de
Paris, SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart, as well as return visits to
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France at Montpellier Festival,
Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, 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 completed a South African Tour with the Mzansi National
Philharmonic.
A prolific opera conductor, Karabits has worked with the Deutsche Oper
(Don Giovanni), 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. Music Director of the Deutsches
Nationaltheatre Weimar from 2016-19, Kirill 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 Kirill, 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 collaborated
with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain on a UK tour,
including a critically acclaimed performance at the Barbican.
Kirill was named Conductor of the Year at the 2013 Royal Philharmonic
Society Music Awards.