Here is the complete 2024 BBC Proms schedule, featuring comprehensive listings of all this year’s Proms.
The 2024 Proms features eight weeks of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, plus weekend festivals in Bristol, Nottingham and Gateshead and chamber concerts in Aberdeen, Belfast and Newport.
A total of 90 Proms will feature over 3,000 musicians from Friday 19 July to Saturday 14 September. Headline names include Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Víkingur Olafsson, Simon Rattle, Daniel Barenboim, Sam Smith, Florence Welch, Yunchan Lim, and Sheku, Braimah and Isata Kanneh-Mason.
Elsewhere on the site you can find a selection of 2024 BBC Proms highlights, and below are the full 2024 BBC Proms listings. All Proms are broadcast on BBC Radio 3, many of them live. Additional broadcast information below.
2024 BBC Proms schedule: Royal Albert Hall concerts
Friday 19 July
Live on BBC Two
PROM 1
6.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £15-£64
First Night of the Proms 2024
Handel, arr. Mackerras Music for the Royal Fireworks: Overture, Bruckner Psalm 150, Clara Schumann Piano Concerto, Ben Nobuto Hallelujah Sim. (BBC commission: world premiere), Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C minor
Sophie Bevan (soprano), Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano); BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Elim Chan
Saturday 20 July
Recorded for broadcast on BBC Two
PROM 2
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £15-£64
Everybody Dance! The Sound of Disco
BBC Concert Orchestra / Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser
Sunday 21 July
PROM 3
11am Royal Albert Hall, £11-£54
Programme to include Bob Chilcott High Flight, Melissa Dunphy Totality, Ēriks Ešenvalds Stars, Holst The Evening Watch, Van Heusen/B. Howard, arr. A. L’Estrange Come Fly With Me (to the Moon)
The King’s Singers/VOCES8
Live on BBC Four
PROM 4
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11-£54
James MacMillan Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia, Mahler Symphony No. 5
Hallé Children’s Choir, Hallé Youth Choir, Hallé Choir, The Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder
Work in focus: Mahler Symphony No. 5
Much of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony came into being during the summers of 1901 and 1902, at the composer’s holiday cottage at Maiernigg, Carinthia, Austria. It’s among Mahler’s best known symphonies: its distinguishing features include the assertive trumpet solo that begins the symphony, with its dotted rhythm very similar to the opening of another great Fifth: Beethoven’s. Then there’s the famously emotional Adagietto slow movement, memorably used in the 1971 film Death in Venice.
Monday 22 July
PROM 5
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10-£44
Schoenberg Pelleas and Melisande, Zemlinsky The Mermaid
BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Ryan Bancroft
Tuesday 23 July
Recorded for broadcast on BBC Four
PROM 6
7pm Royal Albert Hall, £15-£64
Verdi Requiem
Latonia Moore (soprano), Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano), SeokJong Baek (tenor), Solomon Howard (bass); BBC National Chorus of Wales, Crouch End Festival Chorus, BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Ryan Bancroft
Work in focus: Verdi’s Requiem
As we’ve discussed elsewhere, Requiems in classical music tend to sit somewhere on a spectrum from gentle and ethereal (Fauré’s, see Prom 59 below) to blood and thunder / fire and brimstone (well, Verdi’s, actually).
The Italian composer’s Requiem is the most visceral and theatrical in the requiem repertoire. It begins with terrifying thwacks from the bass drum and a dramatic cascading chorus, and it never (well rarely) lets the tension drop. Perhaps we should not be surprised with all this fearsome majesty, considering the work comes from the pen of one of the greatest opera composers of all time. Conductor Hans von Bülow was not far off when he described it as ‘Verdi’s latest opera, though in ecclesiastical robes’.
PROM 7 (LATE NIGHT)
10.15pm Royal Albert Hall, £10-£28
Programme to include Caccini Le nuove musiche – ‘Amarilli, mia bella’, Cavalli Pompeo Magno – ‘Incomprensibil nume’, Frescobaldi Arie musicali, Book I – ‘Così mi disprezzate’, Monteverdi L’incoronazione di Poppea – ‘E pur io torno qui’ et al, plus vocal and instrumental works by Jarzębski, Kerll, Marini, Netti, Pallavicino and Sartorio.
Jakub Józef Orliński (countertenor); Il Pomo d’Oro
Wednesday 24 July
PROM 8
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Nick Drake: An Orchestral Celebration
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Jules Buckley
Thursday 25 July
PROM 9
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F major, Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht, Mahler Kindertotenlieder
Alice Coote (mezzo-soprano); BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Ryan Wigglesworth
Friday 26 July
PROM 10
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Britten Gloriana – symphonic suite, Cheryl Frances-Hoad Cello Concerto ‘Earth, Sea, Air’, Elgar Symphony No. 2 in E flat major
Laura van der Heijden (cello); BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Ryan Wigglesworth
Saturday 27 July
Recorded for broadcast on CBeebies
PROM 11
11am Royal Albert Hall, £10-£27
CBeebies Prom: Wildlife Jamboree
Featuring Andy Day (from ‘Andy’s Adventures’), Dodge T. Dog (from ‘CBeebies House’), Ashley Joseph (from ‘Jojo & Gran Gran’), Maddie Moate (from ‘Do You Know?’), Puja Panchkoty (from ‘Andy’s Adventures’), Rhys Stephenson (from ‘CBeebies House’); BBC Singers, CBeebies East London Schools’ Choir, Southbank Sinfonia/Kwamé Ryan
PROM 12
3pm Royal Albert Hall, £10-£27
See Prom 11.
Sunday 28 July
Live on BBC Four
PROM 13
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Sarah Vaughan: If You Could See Me Now
BBC Concert Orchestra/Guy Barker
Monday 29 July
PROM 14
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Erkki-Sven Tüür Aditus, Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major ‘Emperor’, Bruckner Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1877 Linz version, ed. Nowak)
Yunchan Lim (piano), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Paavo Järvi
Tuesday 30 July
Recorded for broadcast on BBC Four
PROM 15
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Anna Clyne The Gorgeous Nothings (BBC commission: world premiere), Messiaen Turangalîla-Symphonie
The Swingles, Steven Osborne (piano), Cynthia Millar (ondes Martenot); BBC Philharmonic/Nicholas Collon
Work in focus: Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie
The only symphony from the pen of the visionary French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992), the Turangalîla-Symphonie was commissioned just after World War II, by Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It’s a hugely sensuous, exuberant work, in ten movements and lasting some 8 minutes. A kind of sonic journey through love, joy, time and eternity, it features a heady mix of musical forms and schools: Modernism, surrealism, exoticism and, in its more emotional moments, something akin to peak Romanticism.
The Turangalîla-Symphonie is also known for its use of the extraordinary ondes Martenot, one of classical music’s most deliciously idiosyncratic instruments. Here’s a brief sample of the instrument’s ghostly sound:
Wednesday 31 July
PROM 16
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Cassandra Miller I cannot love without trembling (Viola Concerto) (BBC co-commission), Shostakovich Symphony No. 4
Lawrence Power (viola), BBC Philharmonic/John Storgårds
2024 BBC Proms programme: Royal Albert Hall concerts – August
Thursday 1 August
PROM 17
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Ives Three Places in New England, Ravel Piano Concerto in G major, Debussy Nocturnes, Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini
Denis Kozhukhin (piano); Philharmonia Chorus, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko
Friday 2 August
Recorded for broadcast on BBC Two
PROM 18
8pm Royal Albert Hall, £26–£80
Sam Smith: In the Lonely Hour
Sam Smith; BBC Concert Orchestra/Simon Hale
Saturday 3 August
PROM 19
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Harvey Tranquil Abiding, Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor, Holst The Cloud Messenger
Jess Dandy (contralto), Senja Rummukainen (cello); BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
Sunday 4 August
Recorded for broadcast on BBC Four
PROM 20
11am Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Programme to include: Bacharach, arr. H. Baker & S. Kanneh-Mason ‘I Say a Little Prayer’, Bartók Romanian Folk Dances, Brahms, arr. H. Baker Hungarian Dances – Nos. 1, 2 & 5, Marley, arr. Kanneh-Masons & H. Baker ‘Redemption Song’, Laura Mvula, arr. H. Baker ‘Sing to the Moon’, Trad., arr. H. Baker & S. Parkin ‘Scarborough Fair‘
Braimah Kanneh-Mason (violin), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Plínio Fernandes (guitar), Fantasia Orchestra/Tom Fetherstonhaugh
Live on BBC Four
PROM 21
7pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
Wynton Marsalis Herald, Holler and Hallelujah! (UK premiere), Copland Billy the Kid – suite, Barber Adagio for strings, Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue, Ives The Unanswered Question, John Adams Harmonielehre
Steven Osborne (piano); Sinfonia of London/John Wilson
Work in focus: Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue
Think of some iconic openings to pieces of music. What have you come up with? The opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, we’ll bet. Perhaps that of another Fifth, Mahler’s (the two are not dissimilar, as discussed above). Maybe the start of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40?
The beginning of George Gershwin’s iconic, game-changing Rhapsody in Blue probably belongs in this exalted company. Yes, it’s that incredible clarinet glissando, that irresistibly joyous, rising motif in which the woodwind solo seems to ascend into the clouds.
Gershwin first set down Rhapsody in Blue in 1924, for solo piano and jazz band. It was immediately distinctive for its captivating merging of sounds from the worlds of classical and jazz (the 1920s were a rich time for this kind of boundary crossing: see also Ravel’s great Piano Concerto and works by the likes of Milhaud and Martinů). The piece was first performed with Gershwin himself at the piano.
Rhapsody in Blue got several orchestrations from Ferde Grofé (like Gershwin, one of the greatest American composers of all time). Best known among these (and the version in which the work is most often heard) was the full symphonic score from 1942.
Monday 5 August
PROM 22 (Relaxed Prom)
11.15am Royal Albert Hall, £10–£27
Braimah Kanneh-Mason (violin), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Plínio Fernandes (guitar), Jess Gillam (presenter), Fantasia Orchestra/Tom Fetherstonhaugh
Audio-described by Timna Fibert / British Sign Language-interpreted by Angie Newman
PROM 23
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances, Busoni Piano Concerto
Benjamin Grosvenor (piano); Rodolfus Choir, London Philharmonic Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Edward Gardner
Tuesday 6 August
PROM 24
7pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Purcell The Fairy Queen (semi-staged; sung and spoken in English, with English surtitles)
Paulina Francisco (soprano), Georgia Burashko (mezzo-soprano), Rebecca Leggett (mezzo-soprano), Juliette Mey (mezzo-soprano), Rodrigo Carreto (tenor), Ilja Aksionov (tenor), Hugo Herman-Wilson (baritone), Benjamin Schilperoort (bass-baritone); Compagnie Käfig, Les Arts Florissants/Paul Agnew/dir. Mourad Merzouki
Wednesday 7 August
PROM 25
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
R Schumann Genoveva – overture, Sibelius Pohjola’s Daughter, Hans Abrahamsen Horn Concerto (UK premiere), Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor
Stefan Dohr (horn), BBC Philharmonic/John Storgårds
Thursday 8 August
PROM 26
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major, Sarah Gibson beyond the beyond (BBC commission: world premiere), Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E minor
Tobias Feldmann (violin), BBC Philharmonic/Anja Bihlmaier
Friday 9 August
PROM 27
6pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Saariaho Mirage, Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major, ‘Jeunehomme’, Richard Strauss An Alpine Symphony
Silja Aalto (soprano), Anssi Karttunen (cello), Seong-Jin Cho (piano); BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo
PROM 28 (LATE NIGHT)
10.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£28
Heiner Goebbels Songs of Wars I Have Seen
London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Chloe Rooke
Saturday 10 August
PROM 29
11am Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Wagner, arr. Lemare Tannhäuser – overture, J. S. Bach Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542, Chaminade, arr. J. Scott Six Concert Études, Op. 35 – Autumn, Grison Toccata in F major, Ives Variations on ‘America’, Tchaikovsky, arr. J. Scott Overture ‘1812’
Jonathan Scott (organ)
Recorded for broadcast on BBC Four
PROM 30
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Wagner The Flying Dutchman – overture, Missy Mazzoli Orpheus Undone, Dani Howard new work (BBC co-commission: world premiere), Mahler Symphony No. 1 in D major
Musicians from NYO Inspire, The National Youth Orchestra/Nathalie Stutzmann
Sunday 11 August
Recorded for broadcast on BBC Four
PROM 31
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £26–£80
Brahms Violin Concerto in D major, Schubert Symphony No. 9 in C major, ‘Great’
Anne-Sophie Mutter (violin), West–Eastern Divan Orchestra/Daniel Barenboim
Work in focus: Schubert Symphony No. 9
Franz Schubert began composing his Ninth Symphony in 1824, after hearing Beethoven’s own Ninth. He must have been deeply inspired by the drama and heft of the older composer’s work, as the Ninth (also, and deservedly, known as the ‘Great’) has an epic power and grandeur that’s not often heard elsewhere in Schubert. Its distinctive features include a wonderful first movement that manages to be solemn, boisterous and emotional by turns.
Then there’s the poignant, ardent slow movement, much beloved by Schumann (who heard the series of repeated horn notes in the middle as ‘calling as through from another sphere’). There’s plenty of rhythmic energy across all four movements, and you’ll also notice that the brass section in particular gets a really good workout. A wonderful symphony that, with the right performance, can be quite transcendental.
Monday 12 August
PROM 32
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Grace Williams Concert Overture, Sir Karl Jenkins Stravaganza (BBC commission), Farrenc Overture No. 1, Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A major
Jess Gillam (soprano saxophone), BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Nil Venditti
Tuesday 13 August
PROM 33
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Elgar Overture ‘Cockaigne (In London Town)’, Holst Hammersmith, Stanford Songs of Faith – ‘To the Soul’; ‘Tears’; ‘Joy, shipmate, joy!’, ‘The Fairy Lough’, Vaughan Williams A London Symphony (Symphony No. 2)
Christopher Maltman (baritone), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins
Wednesday 14 August
PROM 34
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
Reel Change: Soundtracks at the Cutting Edge
Music from soundtracks including: Volker Bertelmann All Quiet on the Western Front, The Echo Society Postcard from Earth, Hildur Guðnadóttir Tár, Anna Meredith The End We Start From, Son Lux Everything Everywhere All at Once, Colin Stetson The Menu, Tamar-kali Shirley; The Last Thing He Wanted
London Contemporary Orchestra/Robert Ames
Thursday 15 August
PROM 35
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Ellington, arr. M. Gould Solitude; Mood Indigo; Sophisticated Lady; Caravan, Mary Lou Williams Zodiac Suite (European premiere), Anthony Braxton Composition No. 27 (+46, 151, LM)
Anthony Braxton (saxophone), James Fei (saxophone/conductor), Katherine Young (bassoon/conductor), Aaron Diehl Trio; BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Ilan Volkov
Friday 16 August
PROM 36
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Bonis Salomé, Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A major, Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream – incidental music
Anthony McGill (clarinet); NYCOS Chamber Choir, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Gemma New
Saturday 17 August
Recorded for broadcast on BBC Four
PROM 37
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
Britten War Requiem
Natalya Romaniw (soprano), Allan Clayton (tenor), Will Liverman (baritone); Tiffin Boys’ Choir, BBC Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Antonio Pappano
Sunday 18 August
PROM 38
11am Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Francisco Coll Cello Concerto (BBC co-commission: UK premiere), Puccini Preludio sinfonico, Stravinsky The Firebird – suite (1945 version)
Sol Gabetta (cello); BBC Symphony Orchestra/Tianyi Lu
PROM 39
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall
Busoni Comedy Overture, Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, A. Coleridge-Taylor A Sussex Landscape, Dvořák Symphony No. 7 in D minor
Francesco Piemontesi (piano), Ulster Orchestra/Daniele Rustioni
Monday 19 August
PROM 40
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
J. S. Bach St John Passion
Benjamin Bruns (Evangelist), Christian Immler (Jesus/bass), Yusuke Watanabe (Pilate) et al; Bach Collegium Japan/Masaaki Suzuki
Tuesday 20 August
PROM 41
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Mozart The Marriage of Figaro – overture; Sinfonia concertante in E flat major; Don Giovanni – overture, Symphony No. 41 in C major, ‘Jupiter’
Clara-Jumi Kang (violin), Timothy Ridout (viola), Ensemble Resonanz/Riccardo Minasi
Wednesday 21 August
PROM 42
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
Beethoven’s Ninth by Heart: A musical and dramatic exploration of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D minor, ‘Choral’ (performed from memory)
Marta Fontanals-Simmons (mezzo-soprano), Brenden Gunnell (tenor), Christopher Purves (baritone), BBC Singers, National Youth Choir, Aurora Orchestra/Nicholas Collon
Audio-described by Timna Fibert, British Sign Language-interpreted
Thursday 22 August
PROM 43
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Ravel Mother Goose – suite, Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, Holmès Ludus pro patria – ‘La nuit et l’amour’, Mussorgsky, orch. Wood Pictures at an Exhibition
Paul Lewis (piano), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra/Kazuki Yamada
Friday 23 August
PROM 44
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Lili Boulanger D’un soir triste, Debussy La mer, Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Ravel La valse
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra/Lahav Shani (piano)
Saturday 24 August
PROM 45
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Eastman Symphony No. 2, ‘The Faithful Friend: The Lover Friend’s Love for the Beloved’ (UK premiere), Mahler Rückert-Lieder, Sibelius Symphony No. 5 in E flat major
Jamie Barton (mezzo-soprano), BBC Symphony Orchestra/Dalia Stasevska
Sunday 25 August
PROM 46
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Lara Poe Laulut maaseudulta (‘Songs from the Countryside’) (BBC commission: world premiere), Sibelius The Wood Nymph, Holst The Planets
Anu Komsi (soprano); Royal College of Music Chamber Choir, Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo
Work in focus: Holst’s Planets
There’s nothing else in the classical repertoire quite like The Planets, Gustav Holst’s seven-movement orchestral suite, written during World War I. Each movement of the suite evokes a planet of our Solar System and what Holst imagined to be its astrological character. So, the movement depicting Mars, the Bringer of War, is martial and foreboding; Venus, the Bringer of Peace, is profoundly tranquil; Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity, is boisterous; and Neptune, the Mystic, is otherworldly. Each movement is captivating.
It’s become, rightly or wrongly, the piece associated with Holst. There’s plenty more from this very fine composer to explore, but The Planets – majestic, haunting, ebullient by turns – is certainly a great place to start.
Monday 26 August
PROM 47
2.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
Doctor Who Prom
BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Alastair King
Audio-described and British Sign Language interpreted
PROM 48
7pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
See Prom 47.
Audio-described
Tuesday 27 August
PROM 49
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Dvořák Cello Concerto in B minor, Suk Symphony No. 2, ‘Asrael’
Anastasia Kobekina (cello); Czech Philharmonic/Jakub Hrůša
Wednesday 28 August
PROM 50
6.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Kaprálová Military Sinfonietta, Dvořák Piano Concerto in G minor, Janáček Glagolitic Mass
Mao Fujita (piano), Corinne Winters (soprano), Bella Adamova (mezzo-soprano), David Butt Philip (tenor), Brindley Sherratt (bass), Christian Schmitt (organ); Prague Philharmonic Choir, Czech Philharmonic/Jakub Hrůša
PROM 51 (LATE NIGHT)
10.15pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£28
Tinariwen
Thursday 29 August
PROM 52
6.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £26–£80
Bizet Carmen (semi-staged; sung in French with English surtitles)
Rihab Chaieb (Carmen), Evan LeRoy Johnson (Don José), Łukasz Goliński (Escamillo) et al; Glyndebourne Festival Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Anja Bihlmaier
Friday 30 August
PROM 53
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Stravinsky Symphony in Three Movements, Steve Reich Jacob’s Ladder (BBC co-commission: UK premiere), R. Schumann Symphony No. 2 in C major
Synergy Vocals, BBC Symphony Orchestra/conductor tbc
Saturday 31 August
Recorded for broadcast on BBC Four
PROM 54
4pm Royal Albert Hall, £26–£80
Beethoven for Three
Beethoven Symphony No. 6 in F major, ‘Pastoral’ (arr. Shai Wosner); Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 97, ‘Archduke’
Emanuel Ax (piano), Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello)
PROM 55
8pm Royal Albert Hall, £26–£80
R. Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor, Smetana Má vlast
Víkingur Ólafsson (piano); Berlin Philharmonic/Kirill Petrenko
Work in focus: Smetana’s Má vlast
Bedřich Smetana’s masterpiece, Má vlast is a set of six tone poems, all evoking aspects of the countryside, history, or legneds of the composer’s native Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic). So we have ‘Vyšehrad’, a grand portrait of sound of the eponymous castle that sits high above Prague’s Vltava river and was home to Bohemia’s earliest kings.
Then comes ‘Vltava’ itself (often known as ‘The Moldau’ in English), a sonic depiction of the flowing grace of that great Bohemian river. And sion on we go, via a delicious depiction of the bucolic charm of Bohemia’s Woods and Fields and ending at ’Blaník’, named after the mountain inside which (say the legends) a great Bohemian army still sleeps (but will one day wake and help their nation in its hour of need).
A wonderful, gripping sonic tour.
2024 BBC Proms schedule: Royal Albert Hall concerts – September
Sunday 1 September
PROM 56
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £26–£80
Bruckner Os justi; Locus iste; Christus factus est; Symphony No. 5 in B flat major
BBC Singers/Owain Park; Berliner Philharmoniker/Kirill Petrenko
Monday 2 September
PROM 57
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
Ultra Lounge: Henry Mancini and Beyond
BBC Concert Orchestra/Edwin Outwater
Tuesday 3 September
PROM 58
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
Debussy Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Stravinsky Petrushka (1947 version), Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
Bertrand Chamayou (piano); Orchestre de Paris/Klaus Mäkelä
Wednesday 4 September
PROM 59
6.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Lili Boulanger Pie Jesu; Vieille prière bouddhique, Fauré Requiem; Pelleas and Melisande – suite, Ravel Daphnis and Chloé – Suite No. 2
Golda Schultz (soprano), Laurence Kilsby (tenor), Thomas Mole (baritone); BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Stéphane Denève
PROM 60 (LATE NIGHT)
10.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£37
Eric Whitacre Eternity in an Hour (BBC co-commission: world premiere)
BBC Singers, 12 Ensemble; Christopher Glynn (piano), Eric Whitacre (conductor/electronics)
Thursday 5 September
PROM 61
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £26-£80
Thomas Adès Aquifer (UK premiere), Bruckner Symphony No. 4 in E flat major, ‘Romantic’
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Friday 6 September
PROM 62
8pm Royal Albert Hall, £26-£80
Mahler Symphony No. 6 in A minor
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle
Saturday 7 September
PROM 63
10.30am Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Choral Day – 1
Parry Coronation Anthem ‘I was glad’, Stanford Three Motets, Op. 38, Gardiner Evening Hymn, Harris Faire is the heaven, Ireland Greater love hath no man, Stanford Eight Partsongs, Op. 127 – ‘The Guest’; ‘When Mary thro’ the garden went’; ‘To a Tree’, Elgar Give unto the Lord
Simon Johnson (organ); The Sixteen/Harry Christophers
PROM 64
2pm Royal Albert Hall, £10–£44
Choral Day – 2
Programme to include: Jacob Collier World O World, Garner, arr. J. Stoddart Misty, Guthrie, arr. B. Morgan This Land Is Your Land, J. Rosamond Johnson, arr. R. Carter Lift every voice and sing, Trad., arr. C. Dent He’s Got the Whole World in His Arms, Trad., arr. D. E. Dillard Didn’ it rain
John Stoddart (piano); Jason Max Ferdinand Singers/Jason Max Ferdinand
PROM 65
7pm Royal Albert Hall, £15–£64
Choral Day – 3
Handel, arr. Mozart Messiah (sung in English)
Nardus Williams (soprano), Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano), Benjamin Hulett (tenor), Ashley Riches (bass); Fourth Choir, Jason Max Ferdinand Singers, LYC Chamber Choir, Bath Minerva Choir, Philharmonia Chorus, Voices of the River’s Edge, Academy of St Martin in the Fields/John Butt
Sunday 8 September
PROM 66
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Tchaikovsky, arr. Ellington & Strayhorn, arr. and adapted J. Tyzik The Nutcracker Suite, Stewart Goodyear Callaloo – Caribbean Suite for piano and orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’
Stewart Goodyear (piano); Chineke!/Andrew Grams
Monday 9 September
PROM 67
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Vaughan Williams Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’, Schoenberg Violin Concerto, Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in D minor
Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin); BBC Symphony Orchestra/Tarmo Peltokoski
Tuesday 10 September
PROM 68
7pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream (semi-staged; sung in English, with English surtitles)
Iestyn Davies (Oberon), Lucy Crowe (Tytania), Richard Burkhard (Bottom), Caspar Singh (Lysander) et al; Garsington Opera, Philharmonia Orchestra/Douglas Boyd
Wednesday 11 September
PROM 69
8pm Royal Albert Hall, £26–£80
Symphony of Lungs
Florence and The Machine, Jules Buckley Orchestra/Jules Buckley
Thursday 12 September
PROM 70
6.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Bacewicz Overture, Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major, Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet – excerpts
Nemanja Radulović (violin); BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Jaime Martín
PROM 71 (LATE NIGHT)
10.15pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£37
J. S. Bach The Art of Fugue
Sir András Schiff (piano)
Friday 13 September
PROM 72
7.30pm Royal Albert Hall, £11–£54
Mozart Symphony No. 1 in E flat major, Farrenc Symphony No. 3 in G minor, Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, ‘Eroica’
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Antonello Manacorda
Saturday 14 September
PROM 73
7pm Royal Albert Hall, £50-£150
Last Night of the Proms 2024
Programme to include: Chapí Las hijas del Zebedeo – ‘Al pensar en el dueño de mis amores’ (Carceleras), Fauré Pavane, Ives Yale–Princeton Football Game, Puccini Gianni Schicchi – ‘O mio babbino caro’; Madam Butterfly – Humming Chorus, Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major, ‘Egyptian’ – Andante, Carlos Simon new work (BBC co-commission: world premiere), Arr. Wood Fantasia on British Sea-Songs, Arne, arr. Sargent Rule, Britannia!, Elgar Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major (‘Land of Hope and Glory’), Parry, orch. Elgar Jerusalem, Arr. Britten The National Anthem, Trad., arr. P. Campbell Auld lang syne
Angel Blue (soprano), Sir Stephen Hough (piano); BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo
2024 BBC Proms programme: Gateshead events
Friday 26 July
The GLASSHOUSE international centre for music, Sage One, 7.30pm
Tailleferre Little Suite for Orchestra, Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor, Dvořák Symphony No. 8 in G major
Alena Baeva (violin); Royal Northern Sinfonia/Dinis Sousa
The GLASSHOUSE international centre for music, Sage One, 11pm
Night Tracks
Sara Mohr-Pietsch and Hannah Peel, presenters
Saturday 27 July
Jordan Rakei
The GLASSHOUSE international centre for music, Sage One, 7.30pm
Jordan Rakei; Royal Northern Sinfonia/Robert Ames
The GLASSHOUSE international centre for music, Sage Two, 10pm
BBC Music Introducing: Live at the Proms
Featuring musicians from the BBC Music Introducing scheme
Sunday 28 July
The GLASSHOUSE international centre for music, Sage One, 2.30pm
Fantasy, Myths & Legends
Voices of the River’s Edge, Royal Northern Sinfonia/Ellie Slorach
Elizabethan music and folklore
The GLASSHOUSE international centre for music, Sage Two, 3pm
Daniel Pioro (violin), Ruby Hughes (soprano), David Gordon (harpsichord)
2024 BBC Proms listings: Bristol events
Saturday 24 August
Beacon Hall, Bristol Beacon, 6pm & 8.30pm
The Virtuous Circle
Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G minor (performed from memory) interspersed with Oliver Vibrans new work (BBC co-commission: world premiere)
Paraorchestra/Charles Hazlewood (conductor/co-director), Kyla Goodey (co-director), Tom Jackson Greaves (choreographer)
Sunday 25 August
The Lantern, Bristol Beacon, 3pm
BBC Singers at 100
Programme to include: Tavener Song for Athene, John Pickard Mass in Troubled Times, Britten A Shepherd’s Carol
BBC Singers/Sofi Jeannin
Beacon Hall, Bristol Beacon, 5pm
Akimenko Angel (Poème-Nocturne), Jennifer Higdon Percussion Concerto, Niloufar Nourbakhsh Knell, Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 in E minor
Evelyn Glennie (percussion); Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Kirill Karabits
Monday 26 August
Beacon Hall, Bristol Beacon, 2pm & 4pm
CBeebies Prom: Ocean Adventure
Dani Howard Argentum – excerpt, Dominique Le Gendre Dolphin Dance, Telemann Water Music – excerpt, Ravel Mother Goose – The Fairy Garden, Britten Four Sea Interludes from ‘Peter Grimes’ – Storm, Mason Bates Whalesong, Eleanor Alberga Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – Celebration Dance
Andy Day and Puja Panchkoty (from ‘Andy’s Adventures’); Southbank Sinfonia/Kwamé Ryan
2024 BBC Proms programme: Newport events
Sunday 4 August
The Riverfront, Newport, 3pm
Bloch Two Psalms – Prelude, Dvořák String Quartet No. 13 in G major, Op. 106, vision string quartet/M. Mirarab original works
Mahan Mirarab (guitar), vision string quartet
2024 BBC Proms schedule: Belfast events
Sunday 11 August
Ulster Hall, Belfast, 3pm
Holmès Les heures, Debussy String Quartet in G minor, Fauré La bonne chanson
James Atkinson (baritone), Michael Pandya (piano); Quatuor Van Kuijk
2024 BBC Proms listings: Aberdeen events
Sunday 1 September
Cowdray Hall, Aberdeen, 3pm
‘I never laid eyes on Aeneas …’: Women’s Stories from the Ancient World
Programme to include music by Blow, F. Caccini, Handel and Purcell
Nardus Williams (soprano), Elizabeth Kenny (lute); Dame Mary Beard
2024 BBC Proms schedule: Nottingham events
Saturday 7 September
Albert Hall, Nottingham, 5pm
BBC Young Composer
New works by winners of last year’s BBC Young Composer competition, including Pascal Bachmann, Atharv Gupta, Avram Harris, Advaith Jagannath, Reese Carly Manglicmot, Jamie Smith
Jess Gillam (presenter); BBC Concert Orchestra/Hugh Brunt
Sunday 8 September
Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, 4pm
Carwithen, arr. P. Lane The Men of Sherwood Forest – overture, Elizabeth Kelly new work (BBC commission: world premiere), Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Korngold The Adventures of Robin Hood – suite, Sibelius Symphony No. 3 in C major
Clare Hammond (piano); BBC Concert Orchestra/Anna-Maria Helsing
For detailed ticket prices and booking fees, visit bbc.co.uk/promstickets
Note booking fee not included in ticket prices.