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 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 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.
Highlights of the 2024-25 season included 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 embarked on a major South African Tour with the Mzansi National Philharmonic. In his title of Conductor Emeritus, Kirill returned to Bournemouth Symphony for a dazzling Voices-from-the-East-inspired programme.
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 bohème, to The Grange Festival for Così fan tutte, and to the Weimar Staatskapelle conducting the Hungarian premiere of Liszt’s Sardanapalo opera. Last season saw Kirill perform with the Dallas Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, 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 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, 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.
See Kirill Karabits conduct Nicola Benedetti Plays Elgar with the RSNO on 14, 15 & 16 May 2026.
