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| Bliss' The Beatitudes performed in Coventry Cathedral for the first time, the building for which it was commissioned and written; Orla Boylan (soprano), Andrew Kennedy (tenor), Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, BBC Philharmonic, Paul Daniel (conductor) in 2012 |
The BBC Proms eight-week season features over 3000 artists and the first ‘all-night’ Prom in almost half a century. Avid Prommer, Tony Cooper, reports on the world’s largest classical-music festival that helps to make summer tick.
When the BBC Proms arrives, summer, in my humble opinion, arrives, too. A feast of music like no other, the Proms (running from Friday 18th July to Saturday 13th September) offers so much over its packed eight-week season with a total of 86 concerts at the Royal Albert Hall.
This is the first complete Proms series that Sam Jackson, who took over the post of controller of BBC Radio 3 and director of the Proms from David Pickard a couple of years ago, is responsible for. He has most certainly come up with an interesting, varied and attractive programme that should find widespread appeal among hard-headed Prommers while helping to attract new audiences.
Branching out, too, the Proms takes off to Bradford as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture as well as Sunderland while returning to Bristol and Gateshead for two three-day weekend residencies with a special Prom in Belfast to mark the centenary of Radio 4’s popular ‘Shipping Forecast’ focusing on music inspired by the sea.
Led by their chief conductor, Sakari Oramo, the BBC Symphony Orchestra will perform the First Night with the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Singers featuring Caspar Singh (tenor) and Gerald Finley (baritone). Later in the series, Singaporean conductor, Kahchun Wong, makes his first Proms appearance as the Hallé’s newly appointed principal conductor performing Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’ Symphony with the Hallé Choir and Hallé Youth Choir featuring Norwegian soprano Mari Eriksmoen and Canadian mezzo-soprano, Emily D’Angelo.
As in previous years the BBC’s own orchestras and choirs form the backbone of the Proms making nearly 50 appearances throughout the season. The BBC Singers will perform at 11 Proms including the First and Last Night programmes thus showcasing their broad range of repertoire.
And in celebratory mood, the First Night opens with Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood (three cheers for Old Timber!) composed by Sir Arthur Bliss, who died 50 years ago this year. Mendelssohn’s overture The Hebrides follows with the first half concluding with Sibelius’ Violin Concerto performed by the revered Lisa Batiashvili.
On an historical note, the Norfolk & Norwich Triennial Festival enjoyed close ties with the likes of Bliss and, indeed, Vaughan Williams and Britten including, too, Sir Henry Wood, the founder of the Proms, who was artistic director and chief conductor of the festival from 1908 to 1930. The Triennial, for instance, commissioned Bliss’ choral symphony Morning Heroes (how I would love to see a performance of this ‘rarity’ at the Proms) and Vaughan Williams’ Job: A Masque for Dancing for the 1930 meeting followed by Britten's Our Hunting Fathers in 1936.
However, ending the First Night concert is a relatively lost ‘gem’ of the choral repertoire, Vaughan Williams’ Sancta Civitas [performed at the Proms for the first time in 2015, see image below], a powerful work inspired by the Book of Revelation focusing on the battle between good and evil while the world première of The Elements by Master of the King’s Music, Errollyn Wallen, commissioned by the BBC, forms part of the opening concert,
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| Sir Mark Elder conducting Iain Paterson, the Hallé, Hallé Youth Choir, Hallé Choir and the London Philharmonic Choir in Vaughan Williams’s Sancta civitas at the BBC Proms 2015 (Photo: BBC/Chris Christodoulou) |
And gearing up for the prized Last Night festivities is Elim Chan who made his Proms début in 2019. He’ll lead the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Singers in a programme to include all the well-loved Last Night ‘favourites’ (wave that flag!) while offering two world premières by Camille Pépin and Rachel Portman (the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score) featuring Alison Balsom (trumpet) and Louise Alder (soprano).
The Proms continues to welcome non-classical artists to the fold thereby presenting their music in new orchestral settings. Therefore, this season the multi-Grammy award-winning musicians St Vincent and Samara Joy will beat a path to Kensington Gore while Trevor Nelson presents his Soul Revolution Prom and sitar virtuoso, Anoushka Shankar, returns for her fifth Proms appearance performing new orchestral arrangements of music from her album trilogy: Chapter I: ‘Forever, For Now’; II: ‘How Dark It Is Before Dawn’ and the world première of her new album III: ‘We Return To Light’ featuring the London Contemporary Orchestra conducted by Robert Ames.
As usual, anniversaries of composers are given a special platform. Therefore, this year’s gathering is no exception as we celebrate Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday, the 150th anniversaries of the births of Maurice Ravel and Samuel Coleridge Taylor while marking the 50th anniversaries of the deaths of Bernard Herrmann and Dmitri Shostakovich. The Proms also highlights a couple of notable centenarians: Pierre Boulez and Luciano Berio.
I’m pleased as punch to see Delius’ A Mass of Life - a ‘gem’ of the choral repertoire - included in this year’s Proms (Monday 18 August) especially when in the safe and capable hands of such a choral master as Sir Mark Elder conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the London Philharmonic Choir. A stellar line-up of soloists comprises Jennifer Davis (soprano), Claudia Huckle (mezzo-soprano), David Butt Philip (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone).
‘No other English composer offers more beauty in sound,’ exclaimed Sir Thomas Beecham, ‘There’s no more extravagant, impassioned or overwhelming a canvas for the beauty which is found in A Mass of Life.’ Taking Nietzsche’s rapturous prose-poem, Also sprach Zarathustra, as a starting-point, Delius imagined a secular Mass, a cantata for orchestra, chorus and soloists celebrating the transcendent power and triumph of the human spirit in the face of death
I well remember Norman Del Mar, artistic director of the 1979 Norfolk & Norwich Triennial Festival (a great champion of Delius as, too, was Beecham) conducting a brilliant and rewarding performance of A Mass of Life in St Andrew’s Hall on Friday 12th October to a packed house.
Appropriately, the concert was dedicated to the memory of Beecham marking his centenary. The musical forces comprised the Philharmonia Orchestra (leader: Carl Pini) and the N&N Festival Chorus with soloists Jacqueline Delman (soprano), Norma Proctor (contralto), John Mitchinson (tenor) and Thomas Hemsley (baritone).
And yet another work jumps from the dusty library of rare choral works to the Royal Albert Hall with a staging of Bliss’ cantata, The Beatitudes, with Sakari Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Singers and the BBC Symphony Chorus featuring Norfolk-born soprano Elizabeth Watts and British tenor, Laurence Kilsby.
Commissioned for Coventry’s new cathedral (dedicated to St Michael) in 1961, The Beatitudes was greatly overshadowed by Britten’s War Requiem (performed in the cathedral) while Bliss’ work was relegated and premièred at the city’s Belgrade Theatre, a completely unsatisfactory venue. Not surprisingly, Bliss was disappointed by the outcome and hoped that one day The Beatitudes would be staged in the cathedral for which it was written. When the Golden Jubilee of the cathedral fell in 2012, Bliss’ wish came true! [see image at top of this article].
Therefore, it pleases me so much to see The Beatitudes programmed for this year’s Proms. In fact, I attended its first performance in Coventry and, indeed War Requiem, too, so I shall doubly make sure that I’m sitting comfortably in the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 7th September.
Thankfully, the BBC continues to champion new music therefore 19 world, European or UK premières are lined up for this season including ten works commissioned by the BBC. And British composers receiving première performances in addition to Errollyn Wallen and Rachel Portman include Tom Coult (Monologues for the Curious) performed by tenor Allan Clayton, Mark Simpson’s guitar concerto ZEBRA (or 2-3-74; The Divine Invasion of Philip K. Dick) performed by guitarist Sean Shibe and a new piece from Sir John Rutter written for the BBC Singers. International composers Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Anthony Davis and Sofia Gubaidulina (who sadly passed away in March of this year) also receive premières this season.
Sir Simon Rattle takes charge of Chineke! for the first time as the orchestra celebrate its tenth anniversary while he’ll also conduct the wind, brass and percussion sections of the London Symphony Orchestra in a series of folk-song arrangements by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger and Malcolm Arnold.
Making his Proms début is legendary Studio Ghibli composer, Joe Hisaishi, conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in his symphony inspired by the tragic events of Hiroshima: The End of the World. The programme also includes Steve Reich’s The Desert Music, a work not heard at the Proms for nearly a quarter of a century focusing on a scorched-earth vision of a post-nuclear wasteland.
The award-winning baroque dynamos - Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra and Chorus - make their Proms début with Handel’s Alexander’s Feast while Le Concert Spirituel offers a rare performance of Alessandro Striggio’s Mass in 40 Parts.
And half a century after the death of one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed composers, Bernard Herrmann, the BBC Concert Orchestra celebrates his legacy with a special Prom devoted to his film scores, many of which saw Herrmann collaborate with director Alfred Hitchcock including Psycho and Vertigo.
Over the course of what promises a brilliant and entertaining season, the Proms will host such leading orchestras as the Vienna Philharmonic with Franz Welser-Möst, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra with Andris Nelsons and violinist Hilary Hahn, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Klaus Mäkelä and violinist Janine Jansen, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with Robin Ticciati and South African soprano Golda Schultz, the Orchestre National de France with Cristian Măcelaru and the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, mezzo-soprano Dorottya Láng and bass Krisztián Cser.
Organist extraordinaire, Anna Lapwood, guest curates the first ‘all-night’ Prom since 1983 (11pm-7am: strong coffee, please!) featuring a captivating line-up of artists such as pianist and YouTube sensation Hayato Sumino, cellist Anastasia Kobekina, the Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge and the boundary-crossing Norwegian ensemble, Barokksolistene with their outstanding violinist/director, Bjarte Eike,
Across the season, too, there’s a wealth of opera including a collaboration between the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and English National Opera for Shostakovich’s The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District - only performed in its entirety once before at the Proms. Glyndebourne turns up at the Albert with their new production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro while Puccini’s one-act opera, Suor Angelica, gets a performance by the LSO under their chief conductor, Sir Antonio Pappano, starring soprano Carolina López Moreno.
And with themes of treachery, betrayal and deceit running through classical music and opera for centuries, the Proms unveils a collaboration with The Traitors as Claudia Winkleman hosts two very special concerts featuring a range of famous classical works alongside new arrangements of some of the music from this hugely popular BBC programme.
Music on a summer’s day. How lovely!
There’s so much on offer, though, at the Proms so check out the full, detailed and informative programme by visiting www.bbc.co.uk/proms
The Proms continues its commitment to accessible ticket prices with seats from £10 and half-price tickets for under-18s (plus booking fees) while Promming day (standing) tickets come in at £8 (inclusive of booking fees).
Tickets can be booked for individual Proms, Season or Weekend Passes either online at www.royalalberthall.com, by phone 020 7070 4441 or in person from the Royal Albert Hall.
Remember, too, that every Prom will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds. BBC Television and BBC iPlayer will broadcast 25 programmes, with nine Proms across BBC One and BBC Two, demonstrating the BBC’s commitment to reach the broadest audiences for classical music.
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