Kirill Karabits has been appointed principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and will begin his new position in 2008. The 30-year-old Ukranian succeeds Marin Alsop, who finishes her six-year term with the orchestra this season.

Karabits concluded earlier this year a two-year stint as principal guest conductor of the Strasbourg Philharmonic, and is the former associate conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France.

The son of conductor Ivan Karabits, he first led the Bournemouth Symphony in October 2006, performing Beethoven, Liszt and Tchaikovksy to critical and audience acclaim. His recent debuts include MDR Leipzig, Luzerner Sinfonie Orchester, Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Bordeaux, Lyon, Granada and Sydney Symphony. Karabits also debuted with Opera National du Rhin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin last year.

Karabits is the first Ukrainian conductor to head a British orchestra and joins a surge of young and dynamic conductors rising in the ranks, including Valery Gergiev, Vasily Petrenko, Vasily Petrenko and Andris Nelsons, who have each taken top positions with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, respectively.

His upcoming debuts include those at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera this summer in Onegin with the London Philharmonic, and with the Geneva Opera in Janacek’s The Adventures of Mr Broucek (Orchestre de la Suisse Romande).

By Kevin Shihoten