Kirill Karabits

Throughout his career, Kirill Karabits has led both major symphony orchestras and smaller ensembles. He became the first Ukrainian appointed principal conductor of a prominent U.K. orchestra when he took that role with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 2009.

Born in Kiev, Ukraine, on December 26, 1976, Karabits had a father, composer and conductor Ivan Karabits, who influenced his musical path. He trained in piano, composition, and musicology, yet conducting drew his focus at age 13. Studies began at Kiev's Lysenko Music School and continued at the Petro Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, also called the Kiev Conservatory. In 1995 he relocated to Austria for work at the Musikhochschule Wien, where he received a diploma in 2000. Further training occurred at the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart, Germany, with noted Bach conductor Helmuth Rilling and with Peter Gülke. Professional activity started before his studies ended, as associate conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. He held the same post with the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra from 2002 to 2005, then directed France's Strasbourg Philharmonic from 2005 to 2007. Repeated guest appearances with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra led its musicians to approve him unanimously as principal conductor; he stepped onto the podium in 2009 and continued through 2020 after multiple contract extensions. He also served as artistic director of Poland's I, CULTURE youth orchestra in the mid-2010s and as general music director of the Deutsches Nationaltheater and the Staatskapelle Weimar from 2016 to 2018.

A substantial recording catalog includes albums with several of the ensembles named above on the Onyx, Decca, and Audite labels, among others. Russian and Western music received equal commitment, resulting in a complete cycle of Prokofiev's symphonies for Onyx with the Bournemouth Symphony. In 2020 he released a recording of Liszt's Dante Symphony together with the rarer Tasso: Lamento e Trionfo symphonic poem, performed by the Staatskapelle Weimar for Audite.