Kirill Karabits signs three season contract extension as Principal Conductor of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra announced today that Kirill Karabits, its dynamic Ukrainian Principal Conductor, is to continue in the post until the end of the 2015/16 season, a further three years. 

Hailed as ‘thrilling’, ‘a star’ with ‘rare ability’, Karabits was invited to become the BSO’s Principal Conductor in 2009.  He impressed the BSO players and management so much that he won the position after just two concerts with the Orchestra.  He has since taken the orchestra to new heights, and in recognition of his work with the orchestra, Karabits was short-listed for a Royal Philharmonic Society award in the conductor category in 2010.

Kirill commented:

“There is nothing more challenging and mysterious than a relationship between a conductor and an orchestra. From the very first moment when I came to conduct BSO it felt special - there was a natural understanding and easiness in making music together. Today, after two seasons together I feel that mutual support and willingness to turn every performance into an adventure became a fundamental thing of our relationship which probably brought a lot of memorable experiences and achievements in the past years.”

The national touring and regular Radio 3 broadcasts last season are testament to the growing profile of the partnership.  2010/11 saw the start of a complete Beethoven Symphony cycle, with numbers 4, 5 and 6 programmed for 2011/12, alongside Karabits’ exploration of British music with Britten’s Les Illuminations and Walton’s Symphony No. 1. 

Further 2011/12 season highlights include a strand of Russian music, mainly from the twentieth century, reflecting his Ukrainian/Russian origins – there is a particular focus on works for piano and orchestra by Rachmaninov and a strong thread of Prokofiev, a composer particularly close to Karabits’ heart.  Other composers featured include Khachaturian, Shostakovich, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, plus the UK premiere of Concerto No. 2 for Orchestra by his father, Ivan Karabits (1945-2002), an influential figure in Ukrainian music. 

Furthering the Orchestra’s crucial role in bringing a broad range of high-quality orchestral music to 5,000 concert-goers a week across the 10,000 square miles of the south and southwest of England, Karabits also conducts a wide selection of core repertoire, including music by Berlioz, Brahms, Dvořák, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Sibelius and Strauss.

Karabits’ debut recording with the BSO for Onyx brought “dynamic spirit, warmth and a sonorous glow to the Orchestra’s playing” (Daily Telegraph), and there are ambitious plans to record the complete Prokofiev Symphonies during 2011/12, forming part of the BSO’s on-going exclusive relationship with Onyx.