BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

Prom 66: Berliner Philharmoniker/Simon Rattle (2) – Julian Anderson’s Incantesimi, Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances, Brahms 2
Julian Anderson’s music has been heard at the Proms with some regularity since 1995. Harmony (for choir and orchestra) was commissioned to open the 2013 season and his latest work,...
Proms at … Bold Tendencies Multi-Storey Car Park – Steve Reich – Multi-Story Orchestra/Christopher Stark, with Hannah Grayson [the 3 p.m. sitting]
The latest offering of the Proms at… series was as much about the uniqueness of the venue as the performance. The low, concrete recessed ceilings of the Bold Tendencies Car...
Proms at … Bold Tendencies Multi-Storey Car Park – Steve Reich – Multi-Story Orchestra/Christopher Stark, with Hannah Grayson [the midday sitting]
In its most daring relocation yet, the Proms once again headed east and south of the river, this time to the ex-car park in Peckham where Bold Tendencies has fashioned...
Prom 65: Ensemble Intercontemporain & BBC Singers/Baldur Brönnimann, with Jeanne-Marie Conquer in Anthèmes 2 – Bartók, Boulez, Carter
Completing the Proms’ bijou bipartite Boulez bash (the Berliner Philharmoniker only just off the stage after starting its first Prom with Boulez’s Éclat – played with ...er… éclat), Pierre Boulez’s...
Prom 64: Berliner Philharmoniker/Simon Rattle (1) – Boulez’s Éclat & Mahler 7
The first of two Proms given by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle.The placing of two composers with maybe little in common served to emphasise Mahler’s modernity (his use of...
Prom 63: Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B minor – Les Arts Florissants/William Christie
One of the grand seigneurs of Baroque ‘period’ performance, William Christie has opened out the music of Rameau, Lully and Charpentier, has been unfailingly true to the spirit of Handel’s...
Prom 62: BBC Symphony Orchestra/Simone Young – Bayan Northcott’s Concerto for Orchestra and, with Siobhan Stagg & Christopher Maltman, Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony – Baiba Skride plays Mozart K219
This Prom opened with an impressive premiere, Bayan Northcott’s Concerto for Orchestra, finished this year. Northcott (born 1940 in London) – critic, author and composer – has written a concise...
Prom 61: Kamasi Washington
Kamasi Washington might not have been the most obvious artist for the Proms, yet the success of the triple album The Epic certainly propelled him to the forefront of the...
Prom 60 – Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester/Philippe Jordan – Bruckner 9 – Christian Gerhaher sings Bach, Ich habe genug
While both works in this Gustav Mahler Jungendorchester’s Prom are profound reflections on the end of life, when a hundred or more youthful musicians turn their thoughts to death there’s...
Prom 59: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Herbert Blomstedt – Beethoven – Leonore No.2 & Symphony 7 – András Schiff plays the Emperor Concerto
The Beethoven concert was once a regular Friday-night feature of the Promenade Concerts, but as a Monday Bank Holiday event it was greatly appreciated.Herbert Blomstedt, recently turned 89, stepped boldly...
Proms Chamber Music 7: Armida Quartett, Lise Berthaud, David Saudubray – Schubert D703, Sally Beamish, Mozart K515
The Armida Quartett is part of BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme. Its members are however already very experienced musicians, the group formed in Berlin in 2006, and the...
Prom 58: CBeebies II
Alex began his Promming career two years ago, at the age of four – seventeen years younger than I was when I began mine, in 1977. In the four decades...
Prom 57: BBC Symphony Orchestra/Semyon Bychkov – Thomas Larcher’s Symphony No.2 and Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony – Elisabeth Kulman sings Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder
Wagner’s song-cycle sets poems by his muse, the married Matilde Wesendonck, and was cleverly programmed as ‘light relief’ between two monumental symphonic works requiring brilliance and virtuosity.The Songs were heard...
Prom 56: CBeebies I
After attending the 2014 CBeebies Prom and thoroughly enjoying it, we were anticipating another memorable morning. As we arrived we were greeted by human-sized characters from several CBeebies programmes and...
Prom 55 – City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla – Magic Flute Overture & Tchaikovsky 4 – Barbara Hannigan sings Hans Abrahamsen’s let me tell you
At one level, this Proms programme might appear to be made up of unconnected pieces, for the inclusion of Hans Abrahamsen’s let me tell you is not – at least,...
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