Whether you’re a seasoned classical music aficionado, or a fair-weather fan with a fondness for Land of Hope and Glory, the BBC Proms has something for you.
The eight-week classical music festival began in 1895, and has taken place largely at Royal Albert Hall ever since. As well as the recurring traditions, like all of the Union Jack flag-waving and pomp and circumstance that goes on at Last Night of the Proms, the annual programme always contains plenty of surprises: from The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain covering Wheatus’ Teenage Dirtbag to the first ever Doctor Who Prom.
Ahead of the 2024 edition kicking off this Friday night with First Night of the Proms, classical music experts and presenters of the BBC’s coverage – including CBBC’s resident canine presenter Dodge the Dog – let us know their picks...
Petroc Trelawny – BBC Radio 3
Prom 15 - Turangalila Symphony
Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla is one of the strangest, most compelling and at times richly beautiful of 20th Century symphonies. Running at an hour and 20 minutes, it is certainly one of the longest, and with the added attraction of a starring role for the beguiling sound of the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument. Messiaen wanted the work to be 'superhuman, overflowing, blinding, unlimited' – and I reckon he achieved all four of his aims. A work to hear live at least once.
Tue 30th July
Prom 71 - Art of Fugue
The Royal Albert Hall is one of the world's largest concert halls – not the place you would immediately associate with delicate music from the Baroque era played on solo piano. But Sir Andras Schiff's Proms solo Bach recitals have been extraordinary events – and this years rendition of The Art of Fugue should be no different. Some 5,000 Bach fans, leaning in and listening closely. An intimate experience in an epic space.
Thur 12 Sept
Georgia Mann – BBC Radio 3
Prom 21: John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London.
John Wilson's Proms have become the stuff of legend, and this year he's bringing my favourite orchestra on the scene today, the Sinfonia of London, to the Proms with some of the greatest American music ever written. This orchestra is the musical equivalent to a Premier League football team; each player is supremely classy, they bring such energy and finesse, and this is music that will showcase their skills so well.
Samuel Barber's elegiac Adagio for Strings is a heartbreakingly beautiful thing which many will remember from the film Platoon. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is the piece which helped define the jazz age, written in 1924 it oozes art deco glamour. The culmination of the Prom is a work by one of our greatest contemporary composers: John Adams. His Harmonielehre is inspired by a dream Adams had about driving along the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and seeing an oil tanker turn on the surface of the water and take off like a rocket. I'll be presenting this Prom on BBC Four.
Sunday 4 August
Prom 69: Florence + The Machine - Symphony of Lungs
Florence Welch has a voice that, once heard, can never be forgotten. When her album Lungs came out back in 2009, I remember thinking that there was something almost operatic about her sound, so I'm very excited about her teaming up with the brilliant conductor and arranger Jules Buckley for an orchestral take on Lungs. Songs like Dog Days Are Over and Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up) have a really classical sensibility in their intensity and epic feel, hearing them in live orchestral form will be very special indeed.
Wednesday September 11th
Dodge the Dog – CBeebies
I can’t wait for the Proms! I love music, I’m always singing in the CBeebies House, and hearing an orchestra fills me with joy!
Proms 11 & 12: CBeebies Prom – Wildlife Jamboree
Saturday 27 July
I’m really looking forward to the CBeebies Prom Wildlife Jamboree – I’ll be there with all of my friends! I also want to invite all of my pup pals and animal friends to the Jamboree too! We’re going to have so much fun. I can’t wait to see everybody!
Prom 22: Relaxed Prom – Songs and Dances with the Kanneh Masons
I’m looking forward to the Relaxed Prom. The music is going to be great and I’m really excited to hear the Fantastia orchestra! We’re going to hear music by Stevie Wonder and Nile Rogers, and they have created some of my favourite songs!
I hope I see you at the Royal Albert Hall! We’re going to have so much fun!
Monday 5 August
Linton Stephens – BBC Radio 3
Prom 42: Beethoven’s Ninth by Heart
I'm most looking forward to the Aurora Prom Beethoven’s Ninth by Heart. I played The Rite of Spring last year and it was epic. There was such an excitement in the hall and on stage. The lack of sheet music definitely brings the audience closer to the musicians and vice versa.
Wednesday 21 August
Prom 18: Sam Smith
I also can't wait for the Sam Smith Prom. Classical music for me is music without boundaries and in today's world – can be music without definition. It's still looked at as an elite art form. So the fact that we're crossing genre boundaries and inviting artists like Sam Smith into this space shows how integral live orchestral music is to the entire music industry. There really is something for everyone.
Friday 2 August
Clive Myrie – BBC TV Presenter
First Night of the Proms
The First Night of the Proms is always so special, ushering in this most wonderful eight- week carnival of music. This year Handel, Bruckner and Clara Schumann take centre stage but it’s Beethoven’s mighty Fifth Symphony, a crowd favourite, that stands out. From its thunderous opening bars to its triumphant finale, it’s a masterpiece I got to know at school as a young violinist. Power and raw emotion characterise a work I’m so looking forward to, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Friday 19 July
Prom 13: Sarah Vaughan – If You Could See Me Now
My other less conventional Proms highlight is the BBC Concert Orchestra and Guy Barker joined by a brilliant collection of singers for a celebration of the music of Sarah Vaughan, born 100 years ago. Her work crossed musical barriers bringing together operatic grandeur and cool jazz, captivating audiences including me. I can’t wait for this showcase of her special talents.
Sunday 28 July
The Standard’s picks
The Glasshouse 6: Flow, My Tears – Elegies and Atonement
A quartet of classical musicians, led by violinist Daniel Pioro, come together to explore Elizabethean music, folklore and its legacy. From John Dowland and Dietrich Buxtehude to Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre and Ralph Vaughan Williams, expect an afternoon of musical adventure mirroring the enlightenment and expansionism of the Tudor period. A brilliant way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon in London. Elizabeth Gregory
Sunday 28 July
Prom 19: Elgar’s Cello Concerto
Elgar’s Cello Concerto is a stone cold classic for a reason. Written in the aftermath of the First World War, while Elgar was recovering from illness, it’s dominated by doom and disillusionment following peace being so brutally shattered. Swinging between grandiose, soaring pomp and quieter brooding melancholy, the whole thing is an emotional rollercoaster ride. Once those parping horns come crashing into view, it’s game over. To put it simply, this one completely slaps. At this year’s Proms, it’s paired with Harvey’s Tranquil Abiding 15’ and Holst’s The Cloud Messenger 43’ El Hunt
Saturday 3 August
Prom 48: Doctor Who Prom
Doctor Who has one of the most instantly recognisable soundtracks in the world: the worp worp of the synthesisers and the propulsive strings behind it stir the heart of many a Whovian. So what better show for the fans than its own dedicated Prom? Murray Gold’s epic score will be performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as monsters roam the isles. Chills. Vicky Jessop
Monday 26 August
Prom 62: Rattle Conducts Mahler’s Sixth
Sir Simon Rattle makes his first Proms appearance as the new chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra – making appearances on consecutive nights. It’s the second that i’m particularly excited about – Mahler’s Symphony No. 6, a score of huge power. Described as “gargantuan and grippingly intense”, this will be a powerful night at the Albert Hall.
Friday 6 September
