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.

He bows out in style with three concerts which showcase his passions and artistic diversity.

Kirill’s latest Voices from the East instalment marries Tchaikovsky’s ever-popular, thunderous Piano Concerto No.1 with his father’s poignant Ukrainian symphonic postcard and two rareties – Georgian composer Giya Kancheli’s Styx, an aural soundscape for chorus and viola, and Balakirev’s rumbustious Islamey crammed with Eastern exoticism (listen to it using the link below).

A blind princess, a doting father, and a miracle cure that can only act through the power of true love. No composer knew how to tell stories and tug at the heartstrings better than Tchaikovsky, and his melodious, fairytale one-act opera Iolanta – one of his most magical scores – leaves audiences reaching for their handkerchiefs every time. Kirill heads up an all-star cast to tell one of Tchaikovsky’s rather neglected gems.

The New Worlds concert on 7 June features the unbridled virtuosity of Korngold’s Violin Concerto, the emotional journey of Dvořák’s ninth symphony and Karayev’s The Seven Beauties brimming with an exotic array of rhythms and melodies.

And you really cannot miss Kirill’s final performance as he returns to a symphony that he brought to BSO audiences in one of his first concerts as Chief Conductor  – Shostakovich’s powerful Fifth!

Click on the links below for more details.

As part of the celebrations Kirill and the BSO take over London’s Southbank Centre in an immersive celebration of Kirill’s pioneering work with the BSO over the last 15 years. Kirill will conduct three symphonic concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, on Sunday 19 May.