Tuesday 30 June 2015

Proms 2015 – A Great Summer of Music






We have another great summer of music to look forward to when the 121st season of the BBC Proms opens on 17th July 2015 www.bbc.co.uk/proms 

Once again the breadth of music and artists appearing is impressive. Sakari Oramo will conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the First Night of the Proms with a programme that includes Nielsen’s Maskarade, Gary Carpenter’s Dadaville, a BBC commission receiving its world premiere, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor with Lars Vogt, Sibelius’ Belshazzar's Feast – suite and Walton’s great choral work Belshazzar's Feast featuring baritone Christopher Maltman.

Celebrating Nielsen’s 150th anniversary, his music will feature in a further six concerts during the season. Sibelius, whose 150th anniversary also falls this year will feature in a further five concerts including all of his symphonies spread over three successive concerts conducted by Thomas Dausgard, Ilan Volkov and Osmo Vanska.  

Whilst the BBC’s own orchestras and choirs will, as usual be the backbone of the Proms, joining the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, BBC Concert Orchestra will be visiting overseas orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Baroque Orchestra Ghent, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Other British orchestras and bands appearing include the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, English Baroque Soloists, Guy Barker Big Band, Winston Rollins Big Band, Halle Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Heritage Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, John Wilson Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the English Concert and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

There are many great choirs appearing including the Cardinall’s Musick, the Monteverdi Choir, Stilo Antico and many more. Ensembles appearing include Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Royal Northern Sinfonia Winds, the Apollon Musagete Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet and the Benedetti-Elschenbroich-Grynyuk Trio to name just a handful.

Opera is represented by Glyndebourne Festival Opera with Mozart’s The Abduction from Seraglio. Grange Park Opera will be performing the popular Broadway classic Fiddler on the Roof.

The range of music is vast with BBC commissions and premier performances. Special events include a Ten Pieces Prom bringing the first year of the BBC’s Ten Pieces project to a close, a Life Story Prom presented by David Attenborough, A Sondheim Cabaret, Story of Swing and a number of Late Night Proms in conjunction with BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6 Music, BBC Radio 1XTRA.

The Last Night of the Proms on Saturday 12th September 2015 promises to be another great evening with pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, soprano Danielle de Niese, tenor Jonas Kaufmann and the BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop.

There will of course be Proms in the Park at Hyde Park, London, Glasgow Green, Singleton Park, Swansea and Titanic Slipways, Belfast.


I have not been able to do more than scratch the surface of all the concerts taking place so please go to the BBC Proms website for full details http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms and, indeed to book your tickets. The BBC Proms website is a mine of information including much archive material. All Proms concerts can be heard live on BBC Radio 3 www.bbc.co.uk/radio3  

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