THE principal conductor of Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has said building a replacement for the Winter Gardens could be the challenge that keeps him in the post for decades.

Interviewed on BBC Radio 3, Kirill Karabits floated the idea of building a new concert hall in the town.

“That’s very much of a dream at the moment. I see a lot of potential in Bournemouth and, as we know, there was a concert hall which was demolished, the famous Winter Gardens, where the orchestra performed for many, many years,” he told Music Matters presenter Petroc Trelawny.

“Since then, the city promised they would build a new concert hall for the orchestra so one day I hope it will happen.”

Mr Karabits said he was discussing the possibility of extending his contract with the BSO, which has another year to run.

Asked whether he might stay for 20 years, like previous generations of conductors, he said: “I think ‘why not?’ but I would need to have different challenges of course, because in order to give and in order to invest in a relationship you also need to be challenged from different points of view.

“One of the challenges I think could be a new concert hall in Bournemouth, for example.

“I think if I would see a possibility for such a change I would like to invest even more time in doing that.”

Bournemouth council leader Cllr John Beesley paid his own way to join Mr Karabits on a visit to Bilbao and Lucerne, where new concert halls have been built.

Cllr Beesley said these concert halls had brought a “huge” benefit to their local economies.

He would like to support the orchestra “to see whether we could go forward with a facility that would be something of which the whole conurbation could be very proud”.

Anthony Brown, head of marketing with the orchestra, said it was always looking for ways to reach new audiences, but performances at new venues would be complementary to its work at Poole’s Lighthouse.