BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

Prom 58: The Sound of an Orchestra – RPO/Joshua Weilerstein
No homage to Leonard Bernstein could ignore his proselytising zeal as an educator, and – on this centenary weekend – the Proms followed its concert performance of On the Town...
Prom 57: John Wilson conducts Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town
To celebrate what would have been Leonard Bernstein’s 100th-birthday, the Proms presented the one musical revival to which John Wilson was unlikely to bring substantial revelations. The engagement of the...
Prom 56: BBCSO/Sakari Oramo – Bruckner 5 – Benjamin Grosvenor plays Mozart K467
Sakari Oramo rounded off his notable contributions to this year's Proms with a satisfyingly classical coupling of a Mozart Piano Concerto and Bruckner's Fifth Symphony. Interesting that, while the Bruckner...
Prom 55: Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer II – Hungarian Rhapsodies & Dances, Zigeunerweisen – Liszt, Brahms & Sarasate
The Budapest Festival Orchestra having tuned, cimbalom-virtuoso Jenö Lisztes and Iván Fischer entered – a sure sign that this would be a thoroughly Hungarian concert, a connection with Gypsy music,...
Prom 54: Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer I – Enescu, Bartók, Mahler
Partially sighted after an eye operation, Iván Fischer may or may not have been constrained in his wilder movements; he was at least on reassuringly familiar ground with the present...
Prom 53 (Aug 21): Youssou Ndour & Le Super Étoile de Dakar – now rescheduled as Prom 65a, August 31, 10.15 p.m.
And, beforehand, Prom 65, August 31, BBCSO/Semyon Bychkov, now begins at 7 p.m., Ravel, Berio, Stravinsky.BBC Proms www.bbc.co.uk/proms
Prom 52: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra/Edward Gardner – Flying Dutchman Overture & Sibelius 2 – Alina Ibragimova gives premiere of Rolf Wallin’s Whirld
This Nordic Prom from the Bergen Philharmonic forged connections between a bracing seascape, ecstatic mystics and a Finnish symphonic journey of nationalistic fervour. If it didn’t quite gel, no matter,...
Prom 51: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Dausgaard – Parsifal Prelude & Nørgård 3 – Malin Byström sings Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs
Analogies between 1976 and 2018 extend further than the weather – the former being the year when Per Nørgård’s Third Symphony was first-performed; the latter that of its UK premiere,...
Proms at … Cadogan Hall 6/Proms Chamber Music – BBC Singers & Sakari Oramo – Bridge, Vaughan Williams, Holst … Laura Mvula premiere … Parry’s Songs of Farewell
While they have worked often in an orchestral context, Sakari Oramo had not previously directed the BBC Singers in an a cappella guise, so making the sixth of this season's...
Prom 50: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Dausgaard – Mahler 5 – Annelien Van Wauwe plays Mozart
As part of the Leonard Bernstein centenary, this Prom replicated the programme he brought here on 10 September 1987 with the Vienna Philharmonic. Taking responsibility for this tribute might have...
Prom 49: European Union Youth Orchestra/Gianandrea Noseda – Agata Zubel’s Fireworks & Tchaikovsky 5 – Seong-Jin Cho plays Chopin
Rare, though not unheard of, are morning Proms – and this one was full – not only seats, but also a healthier-than-most in the Arena. There were Fireworks to start,...
Prom 48: LSO/Simon Rattle – Ravel – Mother Goose & L’Enfant et les sortilèges, Magdalena Kožená sings Shéhérazade
The LSO has been a ‘natural’ for Ravel since the veteran Pierre Monteux made the ensemble feel like an international orchestra. Taking up the post of principal conductor in his...
Prom 47: BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo – Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro & Prokofiev 5 – Pekka Kuusisto gives premiere of Venables Plays Bartók
The BBC’s website promised us a “concerto … framed by two works suffused with sunny optimism.” True, Prokofiev’s Fifth – unlike Shostakovich’s – is still habitually described in terms of...
Prom 46: National Youth Jazz Orchestra – Laura Jurd premiere & Kenton’s West Side Story – Benjamin Grosvenor plays Rhapsody in Blue
Making its fourth appearance at these concerts, the National Youth Jazz Orchestra proceeded to set the Royal Albert Hall ablaze with a high-octane programme of music either unfamiliar or given...
Prom 45 – Suisse Romande Orchestra/Jonathan Nott – Jeux & Petrushka – Renaud Capuçon plays orchestrated Ravel
It scarcely seems credible that Orchestre de la Suisse Romande should only be making its Proms (but not its London) debut in the year of its centenary; its first appearance...
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