Kyrylo Karabyts – conductor of the year

This is the highest award in Britain in the sphere of classical music performance, a kind of musical “Oscar.” It is the most prestigious and old music award in the world! The list of awardees of previous years includes legendary names like Claudio Abbado, Ivan Fisher, Valery Gergiev, etc. The history of the award is more than 200 years long. For example, a member of the British Philharmonic Society Sir George Thomas Smart had the honor of conducting the premiere of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (when the composer was still alive)!

The grand award ceremony was held on May 14 in London. The ceremony took place at the Dorchester Hotel with the support of BBC TV and Radio Company. Kyrylo Karabyts received the award in the most prestigious nomination – “Conductor of the Year.” Today our famous compatriot, who is only 36 years old reached the top of Music Olympus. He directs the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – one of the oldest and most respected music companies in the United Kingdom. Karabyts has worked with many orchestras from all over the world, including the Berlin Symphony, Orchestra of Radio France, symphony orchestras of Barcelona, Strasbourg, and other European cities. Last year Karabyts staged four large music compositions: The Adventures of Mr. Broucek in Geneva Opera, A Masked Ball in Strasbourg, Eugene Onegin at the festival in England and Queen of Spades in Luxembourg. In the season 2011-12 he conducted La Boheme by Giacomo Puccini at the Norwegian National Opera. As a guest conductor he performed at the Bolshoi Theater (Russia) with operas Eugene Onegin and La Boheme.

Since 2009 Karabyts is the principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, he goes on tours to different countries, but also does not forget about his native land. Music fans do not miss a single of his performances in Kyiv or Lviv. Thus, a great resonance was caused by his collaborative art project “Mova.My” with artist Zinaida Likhachova that took place at the National Philharmonic Society. And a few days ago Karabyts released a new CD with compositions of his father – famous composer Ivan Karabyts (1945-2002) recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra.

“With every year the feeling from conducting, from working with different orchestras changes,” said Karabyts. “In the past I could learn a symphony in three days and could go out to the orchestra, but now I prepare more thoroughly. No wonder there is a theory that if a maestro began his career in 20 years, he begin to conduct for real when he is 60. Before, conductors were mature maestros with great creative and life experience. About five years ago it was hard to imagine a 25-year-old conductor. And now a conductor is not a person that knows everything, who comes and tells the musicians what to do and how they should play. Instead, it is a person who helps musicians in the process of creating the music. For me conducting is a great pleasure and not the job I get paid for. The main goal is creating music and the better the orchestra is, the more interesting the process can be. I use my career to communicate with high-class musicians, to perform at concerts that bring pleasure to the audience and myself.”