In this spirit, the season opens with a new discovery; a ballet suite by Ukraine-born composer Thomas de Hartmann and concludes with a 3-week celebration of music close to Kirill’s heart, including a concert performance of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, a focus on ‘Voices from the East’ and Shostakovich’s mighty Fifth Symphony.
Kirill Karabits
The Orchestra reunites with Seeta Patel Dance in November to perform a Bharatanatyam interpretation of The Rite of Spring in both Poole and Basingstoke. This follows the hugely successful and critically-acclaimed performance at Sadler’s Wells this spring and is alongside an accompanying dance-music project for all ages, and a rare Eastern-influenced score by Chary Nurymov.
Seeta Patel Dance, The Rite of Spring
We’re very excited to reveal that celebrated pianist Alexander Malofeev will become our Artist-in-Residence for the 23/24 season. A former winner of the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, Alexander most recently performed Grieg’s Piano Concerto at Lighthouse Poole under the baton of Karabits. His first performance as Artist-in-Residence will be of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in October and he’ll return later in the autumn for a mammoth recital including Scriabin, Wagner arr. Liszt, and Weinberg in November.
Alexander Malofeev
As ever we’ll be continuing our commitment to digital access with 18 main season performances to be livestreamed from Lighthouse, Poole; we’re proud to say last season our live broadcasts reached 18,000 viewers!
And, alongside performances in Basingstoke, Exeter, Poole, Portsmouth and Truro, we return to our residency at the newly transformed Bristol Beacon, and with further events in venues across the region, including, Mayflower Theatre, Southampton and in partnership with Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre.
We’re delighted that Tom Fetherstonhaugh, the BSO’s Assistant Conductor, returns to direct several concerts as well as our Principal Guest Conductor Mark Wigglesworth and Associate Guest Conductor David Hill.
Also returning are: conductors Thierry Fischer, Kerem Hasan, Robert Howarth, Sunwook Kim, Jac van Steen and Karl-Heinz Steffens; pianists Alexander Gavrylyuk, Boris Giltburg, Steven Osborne and Simon Trpčeski; violinists Veronika Eberle, Tobias Feldmann, Ning Feng, Vadim Gluzman, Alina Ibragimova and making his viola debut Valeriy Sokolov.
There’ll be much anticipated debuts from; conductors Emilia Hoving and Tianyi Lu; pianists Alim Beisembayev, Pavel Kolesnikov, Ethan Loch, Eric Lu and Awadagin Pratt; soprano Olga Kulchynska; violinists Alena Baeva and Clara-Jumi Kang; and harpist Emmanuel Ceysson.
Kirill Karabits, Chief Conductor of the BSO, said: “We have prepared a celebratory season, which both revisits some of our favourite moments from the past 15 years — including the symphonies of Brahms, Bruckner and Borodin, alongside a return to Shostakovich’s Fifth and Fifteenth — plus a few hidden gems along the way! I’m also excited to open the season with the music of Thomas de Hartmann, a forgotten composer whose music deserves greater recognition.
“I’m looking forward to reuniting with our friends from Seeta Patel Dance in performances of The Rite of Spring in Basingstoke and Poole, when we’ll also share Chary Nurymov’s ballet music — and to welcoming our brilliant guest soloists across the season, including Artist-in-Residence Alexander Malofeev who has made such an impact with BSO audiences. I’m also excited to mark the start of the new year with our wonderful audiences here on the South Coast, when I conduct several New Year’s Viennese concerts. It’s a full season — and we can’t wait to share it with you.”
As well as main season concerts we’ll be continuing our popular BSO on your Doorstep series of concerts, bringing music to communities across the region. These chamber scale performances will take music — from Bowie and Bjork to Bach and Britten, alongside works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Arvo Pärt, Florence Price, Dame Ethel Smyth and Grace Williams — to smaller venues in both rural and urban locations.
Dougie Scarfe, Chief Executive of the BSO, said “We look forward to sharing this jam-packed season, which is supported by Season Sponsor Investec — it both looks back to commemorate Kirill’s remarkable 15-year tenure, and celebrates new partnerships and musical discoveries.
“Our mission is to bring music into people’s lives in a meaningful way. This season, in addition to our main season performances, we’ll continue to reach further and deeper into communities across the South West with the continuation of our ‘BSO On Your Doorstep’ chamber-scale touring, and a company residency in Cornwall, which will celebrate all aspects of community music-making. We also remain deeply committed to ensuring digital access, particularly for those who cannot come to see us in person, and we’ll share 18 livestreamed concerts across the season produced by our in-house team. As we take to the roads, the airwaves, and the stage, we look forward to celebrating a great season of music together.”
The BSO’s 2023/24 main season performances at Lighthouse, Poole are supported by Season Sponsor, Investec.