Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra continues its 2023/24 season, which is supported by Season Sponsor Investec and filled with symphonic performances across the South West and beyond.
Highlights include performances under the baton of Chief Conductor Kirill Karabits in his final season, which concludes in a three-week celebration of music that both reflects on his tenure to date and the BSO’s ongoing commitment to repertoire from Karabits’s native Ukraine and its surrounding regions.
Kirill Karabits celebrates his 15-year tenure as Chief Conductor following a sensational relationship lasting a decade and a half. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s final season with Kirill Karabits as Chief Conductor began last autumn and sees the BSO celebrate a broad range of repertoire with Karabits, from the symphonies of Brahms, Bruckner and Borodin to rarities including a concert performance of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta (8 May).
The Voices from the East series, which champions music from eastern Europe and Karabits’s native Ukraine, continues with highlights such as Vasks’s Violin Concerto Distant Light (31 Jan). May sees performances of Ivan Karabits’s Concerto for Orchestra No.3 and Giya Kancheli’s Styx (1 May).
Karabits has welcomed musical friends across the season, including returns from: pianist Alexander Malofeev (returning 1 May); violinist Vadim Gluzman (31 Jan – 1 Feb); Valeriy Sokolov (1 May) performing on viola; and pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk (15 May). Plus, BSO debuts from pianist Awadagin Pratt (13-14 Mar).
Further performances across the season include New Year’s Viennese gala concerts — in Poole (1 Jan) and Southampton (6 Jan). Karabits will also conduct the Orchestra at The Grange Festival this summer (8-24 June) and lead two performances, alongside 2021-2023 Artist-in-Residence Felix Klieser at the BBC Proms (2-3 Aug).
At the end of the 2023/24 season, Karabits will take up a new role of Conductor Laureate, Artistic Director, Voices from the East.
The BSO’s livestreamed broadcasts have continued throughout the 2023/24 season, with 18 main season performances being shared live and for 30 days.
1 Jan 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
5 Jan 2024 (Weymouth Pavilion, Weymouth)
6 Jan 2024 (Southampton, Mayflower Theatre)
New Year Viennese Gala – Kirill Karabits conductor
10 Jan 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Dazzling Liszt – Alpesh Chauhan conductor – Pavel Kolesnikov piano
Elgar — In the South
Liszt – Piano Concerto No.2
Brahms – Symphony No.2
17 Jan 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
18 Jan (Exeter, University Great Hall)
Darkness Into Light – Sunwook Kim conductor – Clara-Jumi Kang violin
Beethoven – Coriolan Overture
Sibelius – Violin Concerto
Tchaikovsky – Symphony No.5
24 Jan 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
25 Jan 2025 (Portsmouth, Guildhall)
My Country – Jac van Steen conductor
Smetana – Má Vlast [200th anniversary of Smetana’s birth]
31 Jan 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
1 Feb 2024 (Basingstoke, The Anvil)
Musical Puzzles – Kirill Karabits conductor – Vadim Gluzman violin
Mozart – Serenade for Winds K.388
Vasks – Violin Concerto ‘Distant Light’
Shostakovich – Symphony No.15
7 Feb 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
8 Feb 2024 (Exeter, University Great Hall)
Mendelssohn’s Masterpiece – Thierry Fischer conductor – Veronika Eberle violin
Ina Boyle – A Sea Poem
Mendelssohn – Violin Concerto
Wagner – Das Rheingold, Entry of the Gods
Debussy – La Mer
10 Feb 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Valentine Classics – Tom Fetherstonhaugh conductor
Wed 14 Feb 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Romeo and Juliet – Emilia Hoving conductor – Ning Feng violin
Saariaho – Ciel d’Hiver
Beethoven – Violin Concerto
Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet suite
21 Feb 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
22 Feb 2024 (Portsmouth, Guildhall)
23 Feb 2024 (Exeter, University Great Hall)
London Town – Karl-Heinz Steffens conductor – Boris Giltburg piano
Brahms – Piano Concerto No.2
Vaughan Williams – Symphony No.2 ‘London’
28 Feb 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Verdi Requiem – David Hill conductor – Bournemouth Symphony Chorus
Verdi – Requiem
29 Feb 2024 (Exeter, University Great Hall)
1 Mar 2024 (Bristol Beacon, Bristol)
2 Mar 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
9 Mar 2024 (Southampton, Mayflower Theatre)
The Best of Williams and Zimmer – Pete Harrison conductor
13 Mar 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
14 Mar 2024 (Portsmouth, Guildhall)
Counterpoint Counterparts – Kirill Karabits conductor – Awadagin Pratt piano
Mozart – Piano Concerto No.23, K.488
Bruckner – Symphony No.5
16 Mar 2024 (Exeter Cathedral, Exeter)
Verdi Requiem – Exeter Philharmonic Choir – Howard Ionascu, conductor
20 Mar 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
22 Mar 2024 (Truro, Hall for Cornwall)
Beethoven’s Fifth – Mark Wigglesworth conductor – Ethan Loch piano
Verdi – Overture to The Force of Destiny
Chopin – Piano Concerto No.2
Beethoven – Symphony No.5
10 April 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Let’s Dance – Andrew Litton conductor – Simon Trpčeski piano
Stravinsky – Divertimento ‘Le Baiser de la fée’
Saint-Saëns – Piano Concerto No.5
Ravel – Valses nobles et sentimentales; La Valse
18 Apr 2024 (Portsmouth, Guildhall)
19 Apr 2024 (Exeter, University Great Hall)
20 Apr 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Classic FM Hall of Fame – Tom Fetherstonhaugh conductor – Eric Lu piano
Rossini – Overture to The Thieving Magpie
Grieg – Piano Concerto
Bizet – Carmen suite
Debussy – Clair de lune
Gershwin – An American in Paris
24 Apr 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Elgar’s Enigma – Tom Fetherstonhaugh conductor – István Várdai cello
Sibelius – Symphony No.7
Schumann – Cello Concerto
Ives – The Unanswered Question
Elgar – Enigma Variations
28 April 2024 (Portsmouth Guildhall, Portsmouth)
Carmina Burana – Pete Harrison conductor – BSO Voices
Orff – Carmina Burana
1 May 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Voices from the East – Kirill Karabits conductor – Alexander Malofeev piano – Valeriy Sokolov viola – Bournemouth Symphony Chorus
Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No.1
Ivan Karabits – Concerto for Orchestra No.3
Kancheli – Styx
Balakirev – Islamey
8 May 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Iolanta – Kirill Karabits conductor – Olga Kulchynska soprano
Tchaikovsky – Iolanta [concert performance]
10 May 2024 (Bristol Beacon, Bristol)
Symphonic Pink Floyd – Pete Harrison conductor
15 May 2024 (Poole, Lighthouse)
Shostakovich Five – Kirill Karabits conductor – Alexander Gavrylyuk piano
Bartók – The Miraculous Mandarin Suite
Prokofiev – Piano Concerto No.3
Shostakovich – Symphony No.5