BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

Prom 9: Late-night Triumphs
The King’s Singers have undergone a number of personnel changes since the group started 34 years ago. It is good to report that into its fourth decade the sextet is...
Prom 8: Bournemouth Symphony
Paul Daniel is a good organiser. Hans Werner Henze’s elaboration of Soler’s harpsichord fandango (the same piece that Roberto Sierra utilised in his enjoyable piece played on the First Night)...
Prom 7: Barcelona Symphony
Spain, and its musical influence, is the theme running through this year’s Proms, and who better to present a largely Spanish programme than a home-grown orchestra. The Barcelona Symphony is...
Prom 6: Late-night Handel
The first late-night Prom of this year’s season highlighted the biblical theme, eschewing its perhaps more popular Spanish thematic compatriot, and welcoming back to the Royal Albert Hall Sir John...
Prom 5: Flicka’s Proms Debut
While noting that Anthony Payne notches up his third and fourth Proms’ commissions this season, it is not given to many composers to receive a second from the Proms, still...
Prom 4: The Colour Purple
The youngest of Paris’s three symphony orchestras – a statistic worth remembering next time London is said to have too many – arrived with its recently installed Music Director for...
PCM 1: Fatuous Façade or No More Nonsense Please Edith
Jacques Ibert is one of those unsung composers. Apart from the wacky Divertissement, which was commissioned for the BBC Third Programme, and the saxophone concerto – both getting occasional airings...
Prom 2: In (nearly) the Beginning
Always a good place to start (indeed Franz Welser-Möst’s opening concerts as The Cleveland Orchestra’s Music Director this coming September are of this very work), the Proms chose the second...
Opening Night: Spanish Fiesta & Pagan Feast
This electrifying performance of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast certainly ensured that the composer’s centenary was marked – and the 108th Proms season launched – in considerable style.If the first half of...
Leonard Slatkin introduces his concerts in Proms 2002
This week marks the second year in which I will be leading the BBC Symphony in the opening and closing of the Proms. Each of my programs has a special...
Proms 2002 – A personal introduction by the editor
“The sky’s the limit,” said Nicholas Kenyon, Proms supremo, when he launched the 2002 season of concerts back in April. Now that these events are just around the corner, the...
Prom 73: The Last Night – “Dignity in Distress” (1)
There has been a great deal of discussion and, indeed, controversy about The Last Night of the Proms this year. If you were to go to the BBC Radio 3...
Prom 73: The Last Night – “Dignity in Distress” (2)
As Leonard Slatkin reiterated from the Royal Albert Hall stage on the night, the Last Night, this was not the evening wanted by anyone. Yes, he knew as well as...
Prom 72: 14th September 2001 – Verdi Requiem
“May God have mercy”. The words of Daniele Gatti before he raised his baton to conduct this performance of Verdi’s masterpiece; at once, a timely and fitting tribute to the...
Prom 71: 13th September 2001 – The Rose Lake
For their Prom appearance this season, Sir Colin Davis and the LSO chose a programme of subtle contrasts. Unique in his output for its non-Finnish mythology as it may be,...