From the start of the 2009/10 season, KIRILL KARABITS will become Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. His appearance at the 2009 BBC Proms marks his first official appearance with the orchestra in this new role.

Very much in demand as a guest conductor, Karabits made his North American debut with Houston Symphony in March 2009, and this season conducts Los Angeles Philharmonic in the two opening concerts of their Hollywood Bowl season (with Joshua Bell and Vladimir Feltsman) as well as appearing at the Grant Park and Aspen Festivals. Future dates in the United States include concerts with the Minnesota, Washington and Indianapolis symphonies and a re-invitation to Houston Symphony in the 2010/11 season

In Europe, other highlights of this season have included debuts with Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI Turin (with Renaud Capuçon), SWR-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden/Freiburg (with Janine Jansen), plus return visits to Luzerner Sinfonie Orchester and Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine (again with Capuçon). Next season he will debut with Basel Symphony, Iceland Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony and Tokyo Symphony, as well as appearing at the Kissinger Sommer Festival with Bamberger Symphoniker. Following a successful debut with them last season, Karabits will also return to the Philharmonia in May 2010, alongside Gil Shaham.

An established opera conductor, Karabits opened Opéra National du Rhin’s 2008/9 season with Un Ballo in Maschera, and conducted a production of Pique Dame in January 2009 with Luxembourg Philharmonic and singers from Latvian National Opera. He will also return to Latvia for productions of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in May 2010 and Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges in 2010/11. Last season saw debuts with Geneva Opera (Janacek’s The Adventures of Mr Broucek) and Glyndebourne Festival Opera (Eugene Onegin). In summer 2009 he will conduct Idomeneo with Opéra National de Lorraine, and will make his Opéra National de Lyon debut with Shostakovich's Moskva, Cheremushki in December 2009, followed by a concert performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri in May 2010. In autumn 2010 he will make his debut with English National Opera with a production of Don Giovanni.

As part of his ongoing doctoral studies in Vienna, Kirill Karabits has done a considerable amount of research into hitherto unperformed or forgotten works that make up part of the recently rediscovered archive of Berliner Singakademie. This included his transcription of C.P.E. Bach's Johannes Passion, written in Hamburg in 1784 and previously considered lost. His research has also led to the modern premiere of Telemann's unknown (and probably earliest existing opera) Pastorelle en Musique. In addition to a recording of the Telemann for Capriccio, Karabits’s discography includes recordings of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France for Scérén, and Suites by Ropartz for Timpani.

Kirill Karabits studied conducting and composition at the Lysenko Music School in Kiev before continuing his studies at the National Tchaikovsky Music Academy in Kiev with Roman Kofman, and at the Bach Academy in Stuttgart under Helmut Rilling. He has also held the positions of Principal Guest Conductor of the Strasbourg Philharmonic and Associate Conductor of both Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.