BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

BBC Proms Makela Conducts Mahlers Fifth photo credit BBC Chris Christodoulou 2
The extraordinary prominence of Finnish conducting talent on the current international circuit would seem to have reached its ne plus ultra with Klaus Mäkelä, chief conductor designate of not one...
BBC Proms Symphony of Sorrowful Songs photo credit BBC Andy Paradise 31
An intriguing programme as Proms audiences have come to expect from the Ukrainian-born Finnish conductor married into the Sibelius clan and no stranger to alternative musical worlds. Last year her...
BBC Proms Bruce Liu Plays Tchaikovsky photo credit BBC Chris Christodoulou 36
First things first. This Prom opened with a vibrant portrait of nightlife in Mexico City from Gabriela Ortiz called Antrópolis, redolent of steamy nightclubs and cabarets. It is a 10-minute...
BBC Proms LSO Pappano 19.08.25 Credit Mark Allan 31
Two operas written at the end of the second decade of the 20th century, although one heard in a symphonic distillation made some 30 years later, came together in this...
Elder Conducts ‘A Mass of Life photocredit Chris Christodoulou 28
The music of Delius's A Mass of Life (1904-5) may not be very familiar to many listeners – indeed it's only been given at the Proms twice in its entirety before, despite...
BBC Proms Shostakovichs Fifth by Heart photo credit BBC Andy Paradise 36
The eyes have it! At least they did at the start of Aurora Orchestra’s latest dramatic exploration of a piece they then play from memory, this year – in the...
BBC Proms Benjamin Grosvenor Plays Ravel photo credit BBC Andy Paradise6
Tonight’s Prom was a just-shy-of-a-50-year snapshot of 20th century music, between 1929 and 1976, with a broad mixture of styles, taking in both eastern and western influences: two Soviet Russia...
JOE HISAISHI AND STEVE REICH photocredit Chris Christodoulou 53
Joe Hisaishi’s debut at the Proms brought a distinctive Japanese slant to the audience packing seats and standing areas, with lots of young kids for which the eve of the...
BBC Proms Bolero and The Rite of Spring photo credit BBC Andy Paradise 28 1
Three early 20th-century classics, composed within 15 years of each other came together as a framing device for a brand-new concerto and BBC co-commission, receiving its UK première in the...
BBC Proms Mahlers Third photo credit BBC Chris Chistodoulou 18
“It’s all very well, but you can’t call it a symphony.” That was Sir William Walton’s dismissive view of Mahler’s Third Symphony. If it isn’t a symphony, and that at...
Edward Gardner Conducts the LPO photocredit Andy Paradise 20 1
Why does water fascinate us so much? Why does the sea exercise such an extraordinary pull on so many individuals, especially if they come from seafaring nations? Could it be...
BBC Proms Rachmaninov Paganini Variations photo credit Mark Allan 6
The BBC Symphony Orchestra were in good shape in Boulez’s Rituel in memorium Bruno Maderna and Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied on Monday night and this run of form continued into...
‘BBC Proms Dvoraks ‘New World Symphony photo credit BBC Chris Chistodoulou 31 1
An intriguingly and well-programmed concert brought four snapshots of the New World to the stage of the Royal Albert Hall, contrasting a 20th and 21st century first half to the...
BBC Proms Beethoven Bartok from Budapest photo credit Andy Paradise 31
No one does it like the Budapesters! With the basses (four for the Beethoven; six for the Bartók) raised high behind the orchestra, just below the watchful gaze of Sir...
BBC Proms Great British Classics photo credit BBC Chris Christodoulou 11
Under the direction of Nil Venditti, tonight’s program was a full and ambitious presentation of British music, featuring established classics alongside lesser-known works and a world premiere. The concert, which began...