Here’s your essential info for today’s concert at the BBC Proms 2024, taking place at the Royal Albert Hall.
Can’t get enough of the Proms? Then check out our comprehensive 2024 BBC Proms guide. Within, you’ll find information on every single 2024 Proms concert, both at the Royal Albert Hall and at venues outside London including Glasgow, Gateshead, Aberdeen, Nottingham and Bristol. Performers, times, ticket prices and more: it’s all in our Proms guide.
What’s on at the BBC Proms today?
Today’s Prom, Prom 17, features a very tempting array of works by four great composers. The programme includes Tchaikovsky‘s Francesca da Rimini. This tone poem takes its inspiration from the tragic story of Francesca da Rimini, a beautiful Medieval noblewoman immortalized in The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.
You’ll also hear Charles Ives’s Three Places in New England, a three-movement orchestral composition for orchestra in three movements by American composer Charles Ives. It was written mainly between 1911 and 1914, but with sketches dating as far back as 1903 and last revisions made in 1929.
Also on the programme is Debussy‘s Nocturnes, another three-movement orchestral work. Strongly Impressionistic in feel, the Nocturnes are based on poems from Henri de Régnier’s 1890 work Poèmes anciens et romanesques.
Tonight’s highlight: fireworks from Ravel
The highlight of the evening, arguably, is a performance of Maurice Ravel’s captivating, jazz-infused Piano Concerto in G major. This amazing work begins with the crack of a whip, or is it the snapping open of the box that will reveal the magical delights to follow?
Then we get wonderful, jazz-tinted melodies tumbling over each other, in a hypnotic, sultry soundworld that also draws on Basque and Spanish music. It’s a wonderful piece but it also has emotional depth. The first movement is festive, the second more reflective. Then there’s the Finale, which moves through various surprising key signatures on its journey back to the carnivalesque world of the opening movement.
It’s an incredible work, and was one of the first names on the teamsheet when we compiled our list of the greatest piano concertos of all time. It’s also been a favourite showpiece for many of the world’s greatest pianists, including Yuja Wang (see below) and the legendary Martha Argerich.
Who’s performing at the BBC Proms today?
Tonight’s performers are the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the brilliant Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko. They are joined by the Philharmonia Chorus for the third movement of Debussy’s Nocturnes. And the soloist in the Ravel concerto is another Russian, the pianist Denis Kozhukhin.
What time does the BBC Proms concert start today?
Prom 17 kicks off at 7.30pm.
And how much are tickets?
Tickets range from £11 to £54. Or, if you have time on your hands, you can be a Prommer for the day, and queue for the chance of an £8 ticket.