Kirill will conduct three symphonic concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, on Sunday 19 May. These concerts will each explore a geographic region and will be interspersed with talks and free performances across the venue’s public spaces.

The first concert on 19 May focuses on music from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, with works by Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Chary Nurymov and Kara Karayev.

The second takes the audience to a soundworld from Georgia and Armenia, with Giya Kancheli’s Styx and Avet Terterian’s Symphony No. 3.

The final concert of the day celebrates music from Ukraine, with works by Thomas de Hartmann and Boris Lyatoshynsky alongside Anna Korsun’s Terricone, which received its world premiere by Karabits and the Orchestra in January 2023.

Composer Anna Korsun and Kirill Karabits at Lighthouse Poole

We’ve been performing and recording symphonic works by eastern European composers alongside Kirill since 2009, encompassing music from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Turkmenistan and Ukraine. Learn more about our ongoing Voices from the East series.

Kirill’s tenure as our Chief Conductor concludes at the end of this season, after 15 years at the helm. He will take on a new role of Conductor Laureate, Artistic Director, Voices from the East with the Orchestra from autumn 2024, continuing the legacy of the important work that we have accomplished to date.

To book tickets for the BSO’s Voices from the East day at the Southbank Centre click here