The BBC Proms, the world’s largest classical-music festival, salutes the USA in this year’s edition marking 250 years since the signing of the US Declaration of Independence.
A feast of music like no other, the BBC Proms (running from Friday 17th July to Saturday 12th September) illuminates London’s famous Royal Albert Hall for eight action-packed weeks offering music lovers the sheer joy of getting to see and hear some of the world’s greatest orchestras and soloists playing some of the world’s greatest music in one of London’s most iconic venues that rock guitarist, Eric Clapton, fondly dubs ‘The Albert’. Pint of twos, please!
So closely associated with Sir Henry Wood - lovingly known as ‘Old Timber’ who, incidentally, was no stranger to Norwich as he was artistic director/conductor of the Norfolk & Norwich Triennial Festival from 1908 to 1930 - this year’s Prom series features UK premières of major new works co-commissioned by the BBC from American composers Wynton Marsalis and Jessie Montgomery with appearances coming from prime conductors and star soloists as Simon Rattle, Marin Alsop, Angel Blue and Joyce DiDonato.
Interestingly, there are so many associations with conductors and composers linked to Norwich and the Proms. For instance, the N&N Triennial commissioned Scottish-born composer, Thea Musgrave to write ‘The Five Ages of Man’, a masterful choral/orchestral work based on Hesiod’s ‘Works and Days’ - the scenario depicting the Greek myth of the decline and fall of humanity through five distinct ages: gold, silver, bronze, heroes and iron - premièred in St Andrew’s Hall on 6th June 1964 conducted by Charles Mackerras.
Now 97 years old, Musgrave - who lived in Norfolk, Virginia (twinned, by the way, with Norfolk, England) for over a quarter of a century with her husband, Peter Mark, general music director of Virginia Opera from 1975 to 2010 - has come up with a new work for this year’s Prom series (a BBC commission) offering a bassoon concerto entitled ‘Out of the Darkness’ performed by Amy Harman (matinee show: 23 August) who has had works written for her by Olav Berg, Heloïse Werner, Brian Elias, Roxanna Panufnik, Robin Holloway and Simon Holt. A pretty good tally!
Broadening the range of choral/orchestral music heard at the N&N Triennial, Sir Henry Wood persuaded many young English composers to perform and conduct their own compositions in Norwich such as Holst (‘Hymn of Jesus’) and Vaughan Williams (‘A Sea Symphony’) while Frank Bridge’s ‘Enter Spring’ received its première in St Andrew’s Hall in 1927 with the young Benjamin Britten as a member of the audience. After the performance he was introduced to the composer which led Bridge taking Britten on as one of his very few composition pupils. Such is history!
Stamping the centenary of the Triennial in 1924, E.J. Moeran - whose mother, Ada Esther Smeed came from Norfolk while his father, the Rev. Joseph William Wright Moeran, an Anglo-Irish clergyman, served the parish of Salhouse near Norwich - came up with Rhapsody No.2 in E major, a rewarding and tender piece based on the well-known Norfolk folksong ‘Polly on the Shore’ (or ‘The Valiant Sailor’) telling the story of a young man pressed into naval service who regrets leaving his love Polly. And as he lies bleeding on deck, he dreams of his beloved on shore.
Therefore, enjoying a chequered history, the origins of the Triennial can be traced back to the founding of the Norfolk & Norwich Hospital following a successful fund-raising concert held for the hospital in Norwich Cathedral in 1772. This duly paved the way for the festival becoming an annual event launched in 1788 by a four-day Grand Music Festival in St Peter Mancroft Church (morning concerts) and St Andrew’s Hall (evening concerts).
The N&N Triennial Festival was founded in 1824 and from an historical perspective Norwich shared it on a rotating basis with the cities of Birmingham and Leeds just as the Three Choirs Festival (the oldest choral/classical music festival of its kind) does to this very day rotating between the English cathedral cities of Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester.
Equally, the Proms has a rich and chequered history. Founded by Robert Newman in 1895 with Sir Henry Wood as chief conductor, the first concert fell on 10 August at the Queen’s Hall, London. And pioneering as ever, Wood established the tradition of mixing popular classics with new and adventurous modern works thereby offering a healthy, challenging and interesting repertoire. And barmy as it may seem today, the early Prom concerts allowed Prommers to eat, drink and smoke in the arena to create an informal and democratic atmosphere.
However, the BBC’s relationship with the Proms started in 1927 following the death of Robert Newman when the 32nd season was broadcast to the nation. Sir Henry Wood continued to be the conductor and the driving force behind the whole shooting-match and conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Proms on 14 June 1944. Sadly, Wood died in August of that year at the age of 75. His ashes are interred in the Musicians’ Chapel, St Sepulchre’s Church, London.
Come 1930, the BBC Symphony Orchestra was formed thus becoming the main orchestra for the Proms and when the Queen’s Hall was destroyed by enemy action in 1941, the series of Prom concerts moved to the Royal Albert Hall.
After Wood’s death, he was followed by Sir Malcolm Sargent, chief conductor from 1950 to 1966, who established the tradition of humorous engaging speeches and the flag-waving antics punctuating the ‘Last Night’ dearly loved by the Prommers and Uncle Tom Cobley and all!
As the 20th century progressed, so did the Proms. Therefore, from the 1960s, the repertoire expanded to include avant-garde music, non-Western music and jazz while numerous international orchestras received invitations.
This year a host of orchestras, composers and musicians from the USA will be beating a path to Kensington Gore taking part in an American season marking 250 years since the signing of the US Declaration of Independence.
A co-commission between the BBC and the Lincoln Center, New York, Jessie Montgomery’s new Cello Concerto receives its UK première (20 July) while the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by their outgoing artistic director, Gustavo Dudamel, will perform a couple of Proms: a programme of Beethoven and Thomas Adès (11 August) and Beethoven and Gabriela Ortiz (12 August).
That popular American composer/trumpeter, Wynton Marsalis, brings to The Albert his brand-new work ‘Concerto for Orchestra’ co-commissioned by the BBC (13 August) while there’ll also be a special Miles Davis Prom marking the centenary of this great jazz musician’s birth (20 August) as well as an American Classics Prom featuring music by Bernstein, Gershwin and Copland (24 August) conducted by Marin Alsop.
And making their Proms début this year, The Met Orchestra, New York, conducted by their flamboyant and dynamic music director, Yannick Nézet‑Séguin, offers a couple of great concerts - a programme of Richard Strauss with mezzo-soprano Elza van den Heever (26 August) and Mahler with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato (27 August).
The celebrated American soprano, Angel Blue, who made her Last Night début in 2024 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sakari Oramo, famously throwing red-and-white roses to excited Prommers to great delight, joins the Chineke! Orchestra for a Prom featuring music by Charleston-born composer, Edmund Thornton Jenkins (22 August).
A plethora of anniversaries and centenaries of composers therefore dutifully mark the current season which features music by John Coltrane, Morton Feldman, Edmund Thornton Jenkins, György Kurtág and Steve Reich while the season includes 20 premières including 17 BBC commissions including a 15-minute work from the hundred-year-old French-American composer, Betsy Jolas ‘Tales of a Summer Sea’ performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under John Storgårds (24 July).
Families are never forgotten about in the Proms and this year they can gather in their droves in the comfort and vastness of the Royal Albert Hall to enjoy the music of composer Alan Menken for Disney, a relaxed matinee with the Fantasia Orchestra and a relaxed Prom at the Bristol Beacon with the National Open Youth Orchestra featuring the world’s first concerto written for the Clarion, an app that transforms a tablet computer into a musical instrument plus a new commission from Charlotte Harding inspired by Britten’s ‘Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’.
As an aside, the first public concert of this well-loved work by Britten took place on 15 October 1946 in Liverpool conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, yet another legendary figure who was no stranger to Norwich as he took charge of the 1947 Triennial, the first to be held following World War II, conducting this significant event alongside that supreme and well-loved English contralto, Kathleen Ferrier. He returned to Norwich in 1951 to take charge of the Triennial which was specially postponed to align with the nationwide Festival of Britain.
A dominant figure of the BBC Proms, Sargent was famous for sporting a white carnation in his buttonhole while on the famous Albert Hall rostrum. This signature flower was part of his immaculately groomed ‘Flash Harry’ appearance - which included white tie and tails - thus becoming a hallmark and stamping his tenure as chief conductor of the Proms from 1947 to 1966. What an innings!
A good ambassador, too, for classical music in its widest sense, Sargent introduced the Proms to BBC television and over the course of his long reign he notched up 500 appearances while his arrangement of ‘Rule, Britannia!’ has been used at the Last Night since 1953. Wave that flag!
But stamping the Proms’ First Night this year (17 July) is the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus led by Dalia Stasevska performing alongside the BBC Singers with tenor Thomas Atkins and pianist and global phenomenon, Yunchan Lim.
Their concert includes Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ and Gershwin’s ‘An American in Paris’ while Lim takes to the keyboard to perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major. There’s also a brand-new, eight-minute work coming from French-British composer, Josephine Stephenson, commissioned by the BBC entitled ‘That the sunrise not leave us unmoved’.
A rare performance in the programme comes with Finzi’s ‘For St Cecilia’ (premièred at the RAH nearly 80 years ago) scored for tenor solo (Nicky Spence), mixed chorus and orchestra, set to words by Edmund Blunden, inspired, of course, by the patron saint of music whose feast day falls on 22 November which, incidentally, happens to be Britten’s birthday - born in Lowestoft in 1913.
Jump to the Last Night (12 September) and there’s a star-spangled array of musical treats and talents in store which includes the first performance at the Proms of Barber’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Piano Concerto performed by Yuja Wang, who returns to the Proms after an absence of three years.
An interesting concert is punctuated by the Greek-born violinist, Leonidas Kavakos, taking on Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (2 August) which also features the world première of Dani Howard’s ‘Concerto for Brass - Signal’ (co-commissioned by the BBC) with the programme completed by Scriabin’s Symphony No.2, a marvellous piece ending in a grand and triumphant manner as befitting a military parade.
Returning to the Proms after a two-year absence, Felix Klieser, born without arms and plays the French horn with his feet, will treat the audience to Mozart’s Horn Concerto No.3 with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields while this promising concert also includes works by Britten and Elgar.
And to celebrate Steve Reich’s 90th, Paraorchestra performs ‘Music for 18 Musicians’ at the Bristol Beacon (7 August) while the Colin Currie Group takes a late-night Prom at the Royal Albert Hall (2 September) featuring ‘Tehillim’, a setting of Hebrew Psalms heard in stark contrast to early sacred choral music from the Renaissance sung by the Gesualdo Six comprising pieces from Hildegard of Bingen, Pérotin Machaut and Josquin des Prez.
Also making their Proms débuts are the Spanish National Orchestra under their chief conductor and artistic director, David Afkham, performing a vibrant programme of Spanish music (19 July) while the well-loved international conductor, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, returns to conduct the Oslo Philharmonic in a programme that includes Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto performed by Patricia Kopatchinskaja (29 August).
A veteran of the Proms, Simon Rattle takes to the podium conducting three works by Schumann with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra featuring violinist Isabelle Faust (7 September) followed by the Mahler Academy Orchestra conducted by their music director, Philipp von Steinaecker, playing Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 (11 September).
Global superstars of classical music make appearances throughout the season and one such superstar is none other than Martha Argerich who’ll perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.2 with the Munich Philharmonic almost 60 years to the day since she made her Proms début at the Last Night in 1966. I attended (and well remember) Argerich’s Edinburgh Festival début in 1966 shortly after she won the Chopin Piano Competition in Poland - a treasured memory! The concert (5 September) also includes Farrenc’s Overture No.2 and Brahms’ Symphony No.4.
The supremely talented Italian-German-American Grammy-winning classical violinist, Augustin Hadelich, plays Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic in a concert also featuring Scriabin’s Symphony No.3 ‘The Divine Poem’ (3 September) a work expressing the spirit’s journey from being shackled by past beliefs to a joyful affirmation of its freedom and unity with the universe. The second of two Proms by the Berlin Philharmonic - the first features Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’ and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.4 (2 September).
This season marks ten years since Sheku Kanneh‑Mason won the 2016 BBC Young Musician with a performance of Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto at the age of 17. He returns to the Proms alongside fellow finalists - saxophonist Jess Gillam and French horn player Ben Goldscheider - to perform the world première of Gwilym Simcock’s ‘Triple Concerto for Soprano Saxophone, Horn and Cello’ commissioned by the BBC to mark this special anniversary (6 September).
As in past years, BBC orchestras and choirs remain the beating heart of the Proms and this season they’ll be making 42 appearances while Ryan Bancroft takes his final bow as chief conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
In total, there are performances from 41 orchestras and choirs from across the UK including the Aurora Orchestra returning to play Mahler's Symphony No.1 (1 August - matinee performance: 2 August). The first half of the concert showcases actors bringing Mahler’s creative process to life while the second half features the symphony performed by the orchestra entirely from memory.
Dazzling a packed and wild house at the Last Night in 2025, soprano Louise Alder returns to The Albert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under their principal conductor Edward Gardner (27 July) while the celebrated BBC Singers performs a late-night Prom (11 August) at the Royal Albert Hall with Dame Evelyn Glennie and the Fantasia Orchestra playing a genre-bending programme to include works by Caroline Shaw, Radiohead and the world première of a BBC commission by Héloïse Werner, a French-British composer based in London.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Britten and the celebrated cellist, Guy Johnston, salutes the occasion by performing the composer’s highly exciting Cello Symphony written for the renowned Russian cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave the work its first showing in Moscow in March 1964 with the Moscow Philharmonic conducted by the composer (28 July).
The Britten tribute continues to blaze a trail with Simone Lamsma performing the Violin Concerto (4 September) and the Sinfonia of London under their principal conductor, John Wilson, performing ‘Les Illuminations’ and ‘Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge’ in a matinee Prom (6 September). Meanwhile, the iconic showpiece ‘The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’ will be performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo (6 September).
The Proms celebrates some of the most influential sounds of the past century, too, beginning with a symphonic tribute to the British movement of Prog Rock as the BBC Concert Orchestra under Robert Ames reimagines classics by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Jethro Tull and Mike Oldfield presented by BBC Radio 6 Music’s Stuart Maconie (18 July) while a late-night Prom (5 August) honours Paul Simon’s landmark album ‘Graceland’ with Bond and Beyond bringing iconic 007 film music to the Royal Albert Hall (25 August) featuring Daniel Bartholomew‑Poyser and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Spectacular moments, one-off large-scale performances and rarely performed works of the kind only the Proms can offer include the first-ever Proms performance (6 August) of Weber’s final opera, ‘Oberon’, 200 years after the composer’s death. Soloists Nicky Spence (tenor) and Jennifer Davis (soprano) stand alongside the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and the Monteverdi Choir conducted by Sir Mark Elder.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra, led by Sakari Oramo, takes on Kurtág’s monumental work ‘Stele’ (Greek word meaning ‘decorated stone slab’) a major orchestral work from this well-respected and challenging Hungarian composer written in 1994. Known as a sombre, powerful and deeply emotional elegy, it was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic and is dedicated to the composer/conductor András Mihály (1917-93) a close friend of Kurtág (22 July).
There are also performances of Zimmermann’s ‘Märchen‑Suite’ (Fairy-Tale Suite) (4 August) - an early tonal orchestral work dating from 1950 written over seven movements transporting listeners into the world of fairies heard in stark contrast to an explosion of orchestral sound like no other that truly stamps Berlioz’s monumental 1837 choral work ‘The Damnation of Faust’ (15 August).
Featuring four off-stage brass bands and ten timpanists evoking profound themes of fear, faith and the apocalypse, a brilliant cast has been assembled for ‘Damnation’ comprising John Osborn (tenor), Véronique Gens (soprano), Gerald Finley (baritone) and Thomas Dolié (bass). Just the right forces, I feel, for the Royal Albert Hall.
Shining a spotlight on under-represented voices, too, the Proms salutes Czech composer, Vítězslava Kaprálová, offering a rare performance of ‘Suita rustica’ (1 September), a radiant and joyful piece based on Czech folksongs and dances mixing the rustic charm of the countryside with the confidence of a young and acclaimed artist.
Most certainly a remarkable and talented person, Kaprálová’s promising career was cut short by her death at the age of 25 and ‘Suita rustica’ (a 16-minute piece in three movements) was composed in 1938. She died two years later.
The prodigiously talented French composer, Lili Boulanger, also died at a young age. She was just 24. Her poignant and haunting choral work ‘Vieille prière bouddhique’ (Old Buddhist Prayer) composed in 1917 gets a well-deserved performance, too (23 July). A brief, evocative piece reflecting a meditative Buddhist prayer, it more than highlights Boulanger’s ability to combine deep spirituality with emotional intensity.
And Lili’s eldest sister, Nadia Boulanger, gets a Prom with a performance of her 1912 work ‘Fantaisie variée pour piano et orchestre’ / ‘Fantasy for piano and orchestra’ (5 August). A significant early 20th-century piece offering an eclectic nod to Franck, Fauré and Stravinsky, the soloist is Romanian pianist, Alexandra Dariescu, making her Proms début with the Hallé conducted by Kahchun Wong.
That’s about it but if you cannot make it to the Royal Albert Hall, remember that every Prom is broadcast on Radio 3 and BBC Sounds while 24 Prom programmes are broadcast on BBC television and available on iPlayer. Last year’s Proms broke multiple records with over seven million streams on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds and twelve million TV viewers. Long live the Proms!
Seated tickets start at £12.20 (including fees) and Promming tickets remain at £8 (including all fees). Over 70,000 are available across the season at the Royal Albert Hall. Last year’s Proms welcomed 300,000 in‑person attendees - over half of them ‘first‑timers’ - underlining the BBC’s strong commitment to making the world’s greatest classical-music festival available to all licence fee payers.
For each concert at the Royal Albert Hall there are around 1,000 standing places in the Arena and Gallery. For most concerts, though, one can book up to two tickets online from 9.30am on the day of the concert.
A limited number of seats either at the back of the Arena or in the Choir or Gallery are available for those Prommers who are unable to stand for an entire concert. These seats can be booked online at royalalberthall.com
There’s so much on offer at the Proms therefore check out the full, detailed and informative programme by visiting www.bbc.co.uk/proms
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