Kirill Karabits

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.  

He 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 Philharmonique de Radio France, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro La Fenice. 

Highlights of the 2026-27 season include conducting Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades at Deutsche Oper Berlin and leading the world premiere of Theodore Akimenko’s The Fairy's Kiss with Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier. He returns to the Orchestre National de Lyon for the premiere of Thomas de Hartmann’s Harp Concerto, featuring Emmanuel Ceysson, and to the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla for the Spanish premiere of Ivan Karabits’ Concerto for Orchestra No.1. Further re-invitations include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and Stavanger Symphony Orchestra. Additional highlights include a BBC Prom with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Bristol Beacon and a debut with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. 

Recent highlights include a two-month residency conducting La traviata at the Bregenz Festival with the Wiener Symphoniker, as well as return visits to London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, and National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra during the Beethoven Festival in Poland. Last season Kirill embarked 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. 

A prolific opera conductor, Karabits has worked with 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.