Kirill Karabits, OBE (Ukrainian: Кирило Карабиць); born 26 December 1976) is a Ukrainian conductor, active in both concert hall and opera house, whose discography mainly includes recordings of Ukrainian, Russian, and other Eastern European music.

Kyrylo Karabyts
Born(1976-12-26)26 December 1976
OccupationConductor
Years active1995–present
RelativesIvan Karabyts (father)

Biography edit

Early life edit

Kirill Karabits' father was the conductor and composer Ivan Karabyts.

Karabits was born in Kyiv (then in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union). In his youth, Karabits studied piano, musicology and composition developing an interest in conducting at age 13.[1] His early teachers included Tatiana Kozlova. In Kyiv, he studied at the Lysenko Music School, and later at the National Tchaikovsky Music Academy. In 1995, he began studies at the Vienna Musikhochschule and earned a diploma in orchestral conducting after five years of study. He also attended the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, where he was a pupil of Helmuth Rilling and Peter Gülke. He has done scholarly work on the musical archive of the Berliner Singakademie, such as transcribing the 1784 Johannes Passion of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, which was thought to be lost.

Career edit

Karabits made his first public conducting appearance aged 19.[1] He was assistant conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra from 1998 to 2000. He also served as associate conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France from 2002 to 2005. From 2005 to 2007, Karabits was principal guest conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg.

Karabits made his North American conducting debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in March 2009.[2] Karabits first conducted the 'I, CULTURE Orchestra' of Poland in 2013 and became its artistic director in 2014.[3] In November 2014, he made his first guest-conducting appearances with the Staatskapelle Weimar. He first conducted a production at the Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar in March 2015. Based on these appearances, in July 2015, the Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar named Karabits their next Generalmusikdirector (GMD) and chief conductor, effective with the 2016–2017 season, with an initial contract of 3 years.[4] In June 2018, the DNT and Staatskapelle Weimar announced the scheduled conclusion of Karabits' tenure as GMD of the company in the summer of 2019, following an inability to reach terms on extending his tenure.[5]

In the opera house, his work has included Yevgeny Onegin at Glyndebourne in 2008, his conducting "a highlight of a vintage Glyndebourne evening".,[6] and La Bohème there in 2012.[7] His Ballo in maschera at the Opéra national du Rhin in November 2008 was noted for "excellent, propulsive conducting",[8] and he made his debuts at English National Opera in 2010 in Don Giovanni[9] and the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Boris Godunov in 2017.[10] He conducted the premiere in Paris of Les orages désirés by Gérard Condé in 2003,[11] and his performance of Sardanapalo by Liszt in Weimar, doing "all he can to inject drama, his tempos are natural and properly pliant" was later issued on CD by Audite.[12]

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra edit

In October 2006, Karabits made his first conducting appearance with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO), and returned in October 2007,[13] where both concerts received acclaim.[14] In November 2007, the BSO announced the appointment of Karabits as their 13th Principal Conductor, after a unanimous vote from the orchestra musicians, effective with the 2009–2010 season.[15][16] The BSO appointment marked Karabits' first chief conductorship. Karabits held the title of Principal Conductor-Designate for the 2008–2009 season, with three concerts.[17] made his first conducting appearance at The Proms with the BSO in August 2009,[18] and formally took up the principal conductor post in October 2009.[19] He was the first Ukrainian conductor to be named principal conductor of a UK orchestra.[20] In August 2011, Karabits and the BSO agreed on a three-year extension of his contract through the 2015–2016 season, [21][22] and in 2015, the Karabits signed a rolling contract as principal conductor.[23][24]

He has conducted several premieres with the Bournemouth orchestra including the UK premiere of Magnus Lindberg's Absence,[25] 'Unforged' by Carmen Ho (November 2021),[26] Nurymov Symphony No. 2 (19 January 2022),[27] Ali-Zadeh Nizami Cosmology (April 2022),[27] Akimenko's Cello Concerto (October 2022)[28] and Anna Korsun's Terricone (January 2023).[29] In January 2023, the BSO announced that Karabits would stand down as its chief conductor at the close of the 2023-2024 season, assume the title of conductor laureate, and serve as artistic director of the orchestra's Voices from the East project.[30]

Recordings edit

With the Staatskapelle Weimar he has recorded Strauss and Liszt. With the BSO, Karabits has recorded music of Rodion Shchedrin for the Naxos label, and music of Aram Khachaturian for the Onyx Classics label.[31][32] He recorded a complete cycle of the seven Prokofiev symphonies with the BSO on Onyx from 2013 to 2015, which included the symphonic fragment of 1902, the original version of the fourth, and the alternative ending for the seventh.[33] A series of CDs with music by composers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine, such as Kara Karayev, Boris Lyatoshynsky, Chary Nurymov and Avet Terterian has appeared on the Chandos label.[34]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Suzy Klein (4 November 2010). "Kirill Karabits: pushing the limits". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  2. ^ Everett Evans (19 March 2009). "Ukrainian conductor to lead Houston Symphony". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  3. ^ "Kirill Karabits Appointed Artistic Director of I,CULTURE Orchestra" (Press release). HarrisonParrott. 5 September 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Kirill Karabits neuer Generalmusikdirektor und Chefdirigent in Weimar". Thüringer Allegmeine. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  5. ^ Wolfgang Hirsch (18 June 2018). "Staatskapelle verliert GMD Karabits schon 2019". Thüringer Allegmeine. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ Erica Jeal. Opera, September 2008, Vol.59, No.9, p1097
  7. ^ Hugh Canning. La Bohème – Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 6 June. Opera, August 2012, Vol.63, No.8, p995-6
  8. ^ David Shengold. Opera, March 2009 Vol.60 No.3 p305.
  9. ^ Russ McDonald. Opera, January 2011 Vol.62 No.1 p95.
  10. ^ Carlos Maria Solare. Report from Berlin Opera, October 2017, Vol 68 No.10, p1304.
  11. ^ Centre de documentation de la musique contemporaine – CONDE Gérard (1947) Oeuvres page> accessed 24 November 2020.
  12. ^ Sardanapalo, Liszt review. Christopher Webber. Opera, May 2019 Vol 70, No.5, p629-30.
  13. ^ Geoffrey Norris (19 October 2007). "Kirill Karabits: Triumphant blend of virile verve and fine focus". Telegraph. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  14. ^ Geoffrey Norris (26 November 2007). "The young ones seize the baton". Telegraph. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  15. ^ Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, "Karabits appointed new Principal Conductor". 29 November 2007.
  16. ^ James Inverne, "Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra names new chief conductor". Gramophone, 23 November 2007.
  17. ^ Geoffrey Norris (28 November 2008). "Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kirill Karabits at the Lighthouse, Poole". Telegraph. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
  18. ^ Tim Ashley (12 August 2009). "Prom 34 – BSO/Karabits (Royal Albert Hall, London)". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  19. ^ Ben Hoyle (7 October 2009). "Orchestras pass the baton to new band of Eastern Europeans". The Times. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
  20. ^ Kevin Shihoten (27 November 2007). "Karabits to Succeed Alsop as Bournemouth Symphony Principal Conductor". Playbill Arts. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  21. ^ "Kirill Karabits signs three season contract extension as Principal Conductor of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra" (Press release). Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. 9 August 2011. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  22. ^ "Bournemouth Symphony extends principal conductor's contract". Gramophone. 11 August 2011. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  23. ^ "Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra extends partnership with Kirill Karabits" (Press release). Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. 29 April 2015. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  24. ^ Andy Martin (29 April 2015). ""I want to help take the BSO to the next level" – Conductor Karabits to extend stay to 2018 and beyond". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  25. ^ BSO, Karabits, The Lighthouse, Poole online review – stealing fire from the gods Peter Quantrill, the Arts Desk, Thursday, 12 November 2020. Accessed 2 April 2023.
  26. ^ BSO Concert Programme Autumn 2021
  27. ^ a b UK premiere - BSO Concert Programme Winter Spring 2022
  28. ^ BSO Concert programme Season 2022-23 (October)
  29. ^ BSO Concert programme Season 22-23 (January)
  30. ^ "Kirill Karabits and the BSO announce new chapter after 15 years" (Press release). Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  31. ^ David Hurwitz (10 May 2010). "Shchedrin: Concertos 4 & 5". Classics Today. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  32. ^ Tim Ashley (11 November 2010). "Khachaturian: Spartacus; Gayaneh (excerpts) – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
  33. ^ Booklet notes for Onyx 4137, 4139, 4147 and 4153 with interview of Karabits by Daniel Jaffé.
  34. ^ Fanny Charles. Karabits and the BSO – a new chapter. Blackmore Vale Magazine, 17 January 2023. accessed 4 April 2023.

External links edit

Cultural offices
Preceded by Principal Conductor, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
2009–present
Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by Generalmusikdirektor, Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar
2016–2019
Succeeded by
Dominik Beykirch (chief conductor)