The director of the BBC Proms has announced he will step down after nine years leading the classical music festival.
David Pickard will leave the post after next summer’s Proms and said he planned to “explore new projects”.
He said: “It has been an immense honour and privilege to run the world’s greatest classical music festival alongside an incredible team, working with many of the most exciting orchestras, musicians and artists on the planet.
“By the end of next summer I will have planned and delivered nine Proms seasons and it feels like the right time to move on and explore new projects. After the critical and box office success of the 2023 Proms, I look forward to delivering one more season in 2024.”
Since Pickard took up the role in 2015, he has increased the diversity of artists and composers. This year for the first time, both the first and the Last Night of the Proms were conducted by women.
Pickard said female conductors bookending the festival showed it was “moving in the right direction”. “This year, two-thirds of our concert commissions are by women, while a third of our concerts include a piece by a woman in them. This is hugely, hugely advanced on the figures we would have given you 10 years ago. Is it enough? No, not yet, but the motivation to change these things is enormous.”
Pickard has also taken the Proms outside London, with a weekend festival this year in the north-east of England.
The director had to tweak this year’s festival schedule after the BBC reversed its decision to axe the BBC Singers, a renowned chamber choir, after pressure from musicians, politicians and the public. Pickard gave the choir prominent spots on the first and final nights of the Proms.
He also had to deal with controversy over Sir John Eliot Gardiner, who pulled out of the summer Proms after punching and slapping a soloist for allegedly entering the stage incorrectly at the Berlioz festival in France.
Before becoming director of the Proms, Pickard spent 14 years as general director of Glyndebourne and eight years as chief executive of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
Sam Jackson, the controller of BBC Radio 3, said Pickard had done a fantastic job as director of the Proms. “It was a pleasure working alongside him this season, where I saw first-hand his commitment to musical excellence and reaching broader audiences – leading to record-breaking figures on BBC Sounds and iPlayer,” he said.
“David has consistently championed classical music at the BBC, in particular the BBC’s own orchestras and choirs, ensuring they remain the beating heart of every Proms season. I look forward to working with him again next year and giving him a proper send-off after the Last Night of the Proms.”
The BBC will begin its search for a new director early next year.
