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Regular features on and interviews with leading composers, conductors and performers help you to explore the minds of today's music-makers.

Nobody does Bach quite like the Bach Collegium Japan. The ensemble makes a welcome return to the Proms for the compo...
20/08/2024


Nobody does Bach quite like the Bach Collegium Japan. The ensemble makes a welcome return to the Proms for the composer’s concentrated depiction of Christ’s arrest, rendition and ex*****on – the St John Passion. Probing, unsettling, dramatic and beautiful, Bach’s work is known as much for its optimism as for its turbulence, its final bars appearing to invite all of us to imagine a brighter future.

Nobody does Bach quite like the Bach Collegium Japan. The ensemble makes a welcome return to the Proms for the composer’s concentrated depiction of Christ’s

Hot-property conductor Daniele Rustioni brings his Ulster Orchestra to London for a Prom concluding with Dvořák’s st...
19/08/2024


Hot-property conductor Daniele Rustioni brings his Ulster Orchestra to London for a Prom concluding with Dvořák’s stirring Symphony No. 7, in which dark clouds and bright sunshine jostle for supremacy throughout a melody-fuelled, rhythm-buoyed journey that ends in triumph.

Hot-property conductor Daniele Rustioni brings his Ulster Orchestra to London for a Prom concluding with Dvořák’s stirring Symphony No. 7, in which dark clo

Stravinsky showed his true colours in The Firebird. In this coruscating ballet music he unleashed for the first time...
19/08/2024


Stravinsky showed his true colours in The Firebird. In this coruscating ballet music he unleashed for the first time the vivid colours that would captivate generations of theatre-goers. He had the perfect subject matter in the compelling story of the young Prince Ivan outwitting the evil sorcerer Kashchey and freeing the 13 enchanted Princesses with the help of the magical Firebird.

Stravinsky showed his true colours in The Firebird. In this coruscating ballet music he unleashed for the first time the vivid colours that would captivate

The War Requiem is a ‘natural’ for the Proms for all kinds of reasons. There have been sceptics, most famously Igor ...
19/08/2024


The War Requiem is a ‘natural’ for the Proms for all kinds of reasons. There have been sceptics, most famously Igor Stravinsky, but those unpersuaded by Britten’s large-scale quasi-liturgical hit would do well to attend a live performance in which his intended visual and aural contrasts can be faithfully realised.

The War Requiem is a ‘natural’ for the Proms for all kinds of reasons. There have been sceptics, most famously Igor Stravinsky, but those unpersuaded by Bri

In the summer of 1826 Felix Mendelssohn stumbled upon a German translation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream made by Augu...
19/08/2024


In the summer of 1826 Felix Mendelssohn stumbled upon a German translation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream made by August Wilhelm Schlegel. Spellbound, the 17-year-old composer wrote an orchestral overture for the play and, another 17 years later, augmented it with yet more scene-setting music – the most enchanting and characterful he would write.

In the summer of 1826 Felix Mendelssohn stumbled upon a German translation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream made by August Wilhelm Schlegel. Spellbound,

Ilan Volkov and friends celebrate milestones from the past 100 years of American jazz, starting with a sequence hono...
16/08/2024


Ilan Volkov and friends celebrate milestones from the past 100 years of American jazz, starting with a sequence honouring the ‘Duke’. Mary Lou Williams’s Zodiac Suite from 1945 romps between boogie-woogie and dissonance in its response to astrological signs. The evening culminates in the work of a boundary-crossing visionary very much still with us.

Ilan Volkov and friends celebrate milestones from the past 100 years of American jazz, starting with a sequence honouring the ‘Duke’. Mary Lou Williams’s&

Film scores by Echo Society featuring Brendan Angelides and Rob Simonsen ], Bryce Dessner, Anna Meredith, Son Lux, T...
16/08/2024


Film scores by Echo Society featuring Brendan Angelides and Rob Simonsen ], Bryce Dessner, Anna Meredith, Son Lux, Tamar Kali, Colin Stetson, Herdis Steffansdottir, Isobel Waller-Bridge, Hauschka (Volker Bertelmann), Echo Society featuring Brendan Angelides and Rob Simonsen , Hildur Guðnadóttir, Jung Jae Il, Jed Kurzel, Max Richter and Jerskin Fendrix

Presented by Edith Bowman

London

Film scores by Echo Society featuring Brendan Angelides and Rob Simonsen ], Bryce Dessner, Anna Meredith, Son Lux, Tamar Kali, Colin Stetson, Herdis Steffansdot

From Westminster Bridge and the bells of Big Ben to Bloomsbury Square, in his A London Symphony Vaughan Williams de...
14/08/2024


From Westminster Bridge and the bells of Big Ben to Bloomsbury Square, in his A London Symphony Vaughan Williams depicts the English capital, where horses still trotted through the streets and the countryside could be glimpsed from Marble Arch.

From Westminster Bridge and the bells of Big Ben to Bloomsbury Square, in his A London Symphony Vaughan Williams depicts the English capital, where ho

I spent nearly two weeks at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, which brings performers, teachers, ...
14/08/2024

I spent nearly two weeks at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, which brings performers, teachers, and students together, enabling music lovers to experience a wide range of musical activities while enjoying the beautiful surroundings that make this such a beloved place.

I spent nearly two weeks at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, which brings performers, teachers, and students together, enabling music

With his Symphony No. 7 Beethoven permanently realigned Western music’s fundamental relationship with rhythm. In the...
14/08/2024


With his Symphony No. 7 Beethoven permanently realigned Western music’s fundamental relationship with rhythm. In the process he created some of the most compelling music of his age. Young Italian-Turkish conductor Nil Venditti places this momentous symphonic dance alongside music by a composer from the generation after Beethoven, one who picked up the master’s baton and ran with it: Louise

With his Symphony No. 7 Beethoven permanently realigned Western music’s fundamental relationship with rhythm. In the process he created some of the most compe

In 1999, young Arab and Israeli musicians came together for the groundbreaking creative and social experiment that ...
12/08/2024


In 1999, young Arab and Israeli musicians came together for the groundbreaking creative and social experiment that was the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra. A quarter of a century later, the ideals of listening, respect and mutual understanding enshrined in this ensemble are underlined like never before.

In 1999, young Arab and Israeli musicians came together for the groundbreaking creative and social experiment that was the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra. A qua

Step into fin de siècle Paris, where the poet Verlaine, the painter Monet and the composers Fauré and Debussy would...
12/08/2024


Step into fin de siècle Paris, where the poet Verlaine, the painter Monet and the composers Fauré and Debussy would meet at regular soirées. From Verlaine, Fauré took nine poems to set as his exquisite cycle La bonne chanson – a serene depiction of the love Fauré was currently experiencing for Debussy’s future wife.

Step into fin de siècle Paris, where the poet Verlaine, the painter Monet and the composers Fauré and Debussy would meet at regular soirées. From V

The National Youth Orchestra's visits to the Proms never let you down. With their massed ranks of strings, woodwind...
12/08/2024


The National Youth Orchestra's visits to the Proms never let you down. With their massed ranks of strings, woodwind, brass and percussion, led this year by eighteen-year-old Rose Gosney from Southampton, one gets the classics on a gargantuan scale and the moderns with thrilling, sure-footed ambition.

The National Youth Orchestra's visits to the Proms never let you down. With their massed ranks of strings, woodwind, brass and percussion, led this year by eigh

Jonathan Scott tames the mighty mechanical beast that is the Royal Albert Hall organ for this mid-morning recital t...
12/08/2024


Jonathan Scott tames the mighty mechanical beast that is the Royal Albert Hall organ for this mid-morning recital that promises to show everything the 9,999-pipe instrument can do – bells and whistles included.

Jonathan Scott tames the mighty mechanical beast that is the Royal Albert Hall organ for this mid-morning recital that promises to show everything the 9,999-pip

In 2007 new-music ensemble the London Sinfonietta and period-instrument outfit the Orchestra of the Age of Enlighte...
12/08/2024


In 2007 new-music ensemble the London Sinfonietta and period-instrument outfit the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment together gave the first performance of Heiner Goebbels’s Songs of Wars I Have Seen, commissioned by the Southbank Centre to mark the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall.

In 2007 new-music ensemble the London Sinfonietta and period-instrument outfit the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment together gave the first performance of

For Brahms, composing music was a quest to balance head and heart. The composer’s final symphony is the most exquis...
12/08/2024


For Brahms, composing music was a quest to balance head and heart. The composer’s final symphony is the most exquisite example of that mission, a piece as radiant as poetry and as perfect as a mathematical equation.

For Brahms, composing music was a quest to balance head and heart. The composer’s final symphony is the most exquisite example of that mission, a piece as rad

In a Prom that could best be described as a curate's egg – good in parts – the BBC Symphony Orchestra served up a progra...
09/08/2024

In a Prom that could best be described as a curate's egg – good in parts – the BBC Symphony Orchestra served up a program that oscillated between the ethereal and the tumultuous, led with characteristic assurance by their Finnish Chief Conductor, Sakari Oramo.

In a Prom that could best be described as a curate's egg – good in parts – the BBC Symphony Orchestra served up a program that oscillated between the ethere

Few composers captured life’s struggles as vividly as Tchaikovsky. ‘This is Fate,’ wrote the composer in 1877 as he ...
08/08/2024


Few composers captured life’s struggles as vividly as Tchaikovsky. ‘This is Fate,’ wrote the composer in 1877 as he grappled with the opening notes of his Symphony No. 4. ‘It hangs above your head like the sword of Damocles.’ By the symphony’s final pages, Tchaikovsky had wrested hope from despair.

Few composers captured life’s struggles as vividly as Tchaikovsky. ‘This is Fate,’ wrote the composer in 1877 as he grappled with the opening notes of his

After critically acclaimed runs in New York, Paris and around the world, Mourad Merzouki’s staging of Purcell’s The ...
08/08/2024


After critically acclaimed runs in New York, Paris and around the world, Mourad Merzouki’s staging of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen comes to the Proms. Expression and spontaneity characterise both Merzouki’s hip hop-derived dance, Paul Agnew’s musical direction and Purcell’s 1692 composition, a series of allegorical celebrations of young love based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (For

After critically acclaimed runs in New York, Paris and around the world, Mourad Merzouki’s staging of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen comes to the Proms

At Newport for the first time, the Proms hosts a string ensemble from Berlin that is half quartet, half band – and t...
08/08/2024


At Newport for the first time, the Proms hosts a string ensemble from Berlin that is half quartet, half band – and the programme it brings proves the point. The first half sees Bloch’s solemn Prelude and one of Dvořák’s most astonishing string quartets – a piece charged by Romantic emotions but imbued with Classical order.

At Newport for the first time, the Proms hosts a string ensemble from Berlin that is half quartet, half band – and the programme it brings proves the point. T

If Mahler said that the symphony should be like the world and embrace everything, then Busoni seems to be doing some...
08/08/2024


If Mahler said that the symphony should be like the world and embrace everything, then Busoni seems to be doing something of the same in his single Piano Concerto (premiered in 1904). It's a notoriously monumental work, comprising five lengthy movements, and scored for a sizeable orchestra with a male chorus in the final one.

If Mahler said that the symphony should be like the world and embrace everything, then Busoni seems to be doing something of the same in his single Piano Concer

Anja Bihlmaier has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, starting September 2...
06/08/2024


Anja Bihlmaier has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, starting September 2024. Anja will work closely with Adam Szabo, Director of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, to plan and deliver an ambitious programme of concerts, collaborative projects, recordings, and broadcasts for audiences in and around Manchester as well as on BBC Radio 3.

Anja Bihlmaier has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, starting September 2024. Anja will work closely with Adam Szabo,

Saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam presents a relaxed performance of selected pieces from yesterday morning’s c...
06/08/2024


Saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam presents a relaxed performance of selected pieces from yesterday morning’s concert (Prom 20) from brothers Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Brazilian guitarist Plínio Fernandes and the Fantasia Orchestra.

bbc.co.uk/proms

No

Saxophonist and broadcaster Jess Gillam presents a relaxed performance of selected pieces from yesterday morning’s concert (Prom 20) from brothers B

It is an oft-repeated truism that few festivals can compete with the range of music presented at the Proms since Henr...
06/08/2024


It is an oft-repeated truism that few festivals can compete with the range of music presented at the Proms since Henry Wood took up the reins in 1895. John Wilson secured his unique place in Proms lore with a series of world-beating galas extending the concept of authentic performance to the work of the great twentieth-century songwriters and their arrangers in film, shows and recording studios.

It is an oft-repeated truism that few festivals can compete with the range of music presented at the Proms since Henry Wood took up the reins in 1895. John Wils

A concert of folk songs, dances, prayers and incantations, featuring brothers Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the...
06/08/2024


A concert of folk songs, dances, prayers and incantations, featuring brothers Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the captivating Brazilian guitarist Plínio Fernandes. The dynamic Fantasia Orchestra makes its Proms debut under its founder, Tom Fetherstonhaugh.

bbc.co.uk/proms

No

A concert of folk songs, dances, prayers and incantations, featuring brothers Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the captivating Brazilian guitarist Plínio Fer

The title of Cassandra Miller’s new Viola Concerto – ‘I cannot love without trembling’ - is a quote from the philosop...
06/08/2024


The title of Cassandra Miller’s new Viola Concerto – ‘I cannot love without trembling’ - is a quote from the philosopher Simone Weill about the fragility of existence, expressed through the Greek funeral laments that are the basis of the Concerto’s five sections. This BBC co-commission (first

The title of Cassandra Miller’s new Viola Concerto – ‘I cannot love without trembling’ - is a quote from the philosopher Simone Weill about the fragilit

Deeply in love and enlightened by Sanskrit literature, Gustav Holst embarked upon what many consider his true masterp...
06/08/2024


Deeply in love and enlightened by Sanskrit literature, Gustav Holst embarked upon what many consider his true masterpiece. The Cloud Messenger recounts an ancient tale in which a man sends a message of love to his distant wife via a passing cloud. It drew from the composer a rich and passionate work charting love’s trials and rewards.

Deeply in love and enlightened by Sanskrit literature, Gustav Holst embarked upon what many consider his true masterpiece. The Cloud Messenger recount

Smith's Prom was not merely a reflection on past successes but a celebration of a decade-long journey, filled with love,...
03/08/2024

Smith's Prom was not merely a reflection on past successes but a celebration of a decade-long journey, filled with love, pain, and growth. As they continue to explore new musical landscapes, this night at the Royal Albert Hall will be remembered as a milestone in their storied career.

In a unique fusion of pop sensibility and orchestral grandeur, Sam Smith made their only UK appearance of 2024 at the BBC Proms, marking the tenth anniversary o

The excellence of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under their conductor Vasily Petrenko continues with each concert. Th...
03/08/2024

The excellence of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under their conductor Vasily Petrenko continues with each concert. Thursday’s Prom was a vivid and well-contrasted programme that showed off all departments of the orchestra, especially the woodwind, to good advantage and was a mixture of the familiar and unfamiliar that drew a full house.

The excellence of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under their conductor Vasily Petrenko continues with each concert. Thursday’s Prom was a vivid and well-con

Nicholas Collon and the BBC Philharmonic perform the most vibrant and unignorable symphony of the 20th century, Mess...
31/07/2024


Nicholas Collon and the BBC Philharmonic perform the most vibrant and unignorable symphony of the 20th century, Messiaen’s Turangalîla, after the world premiere of Anna Clyne’s The Gorgeous Nothings, written specially for the Proms.

bbc.co.uk/proms

No reviewer was available to review this Prom, but we have published this so you may listen to it using the iPlayer link in the left-hand column.

Nicholas Collon and the BBC Philharmonic perform the most vibrant and unignorable symphony of the 20th century, Messiaen’s Turangalîla, after the world premi

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