The BBC today announce its eight-week Proms season featuring 86 concerts in London, Bradford, Belfast, Bristol and Gateshead. A record number of female conductors will be at the podium – 15 – and the Last Night will be the first to feature an all-female lineup of conductor and soloists: Elim Chan will conduct, with trumpeter Alison Balsom and soprano Louise Alder, plus the evening will feature two world premieres, by 34-year-old French composer Camille Pepin, and Rachel Portman, who was the first woman to win an Oscar for best original score, both making their Proms debuts.
Also making her Proms debut will be Claudia Winkleman, who, fully cloaked, will present a Traitors Prom featuring a mix of symphonic pop and classical music exploring timeless themes of intrigue, treachery and betrayal. Suzy Klein, the head of arts and classical music TV at the BBC, promised that the concert would evoke all the drama of the Highland castle where the hugely popular reality TV show takes place. There won’t be gameplay or interaction, she added, but “it is going to be shaped and curated as a dramatic evening. There’s so much music featured in the series that we wanted to take some of that and say to people, ‘Welcome to the world of classical music, you’re already listening to it and loving it without realising it!’” Winkleman will be joined by the BBC Scottish Symphony and the BBC Singers, with other guests and the full programme to be announced. Will season three fan favourite Linda Rands, a retired opera singer, be taking part? Potentially, said Klein.
Successful BBC brands will also be giving shape to the children’s concerts: a CBeebies bedtime story prom and the return of the Wildlife Jamboree Prom in Gateshead’s Glasshouse Centre for Music. The Ulster Orchestra will perform a concert celebrating the centenary of the Shipping Forecast with music inspired by the sea and a new work composed and performed by poet laureate Simon Armitage.
And, although not quite a Proms first (1983’s season featured an all-night prom of Indian classical music), the first overnight prom of the 21st century will run from 11pm to 7am and, curated and conducted by organist Anna Lapwood, will also feature Japanese pianist and YouTube sensation Hayato Sumino alongside the much loved Norwegian ensemble Barokksolistene. “We want it to be very engaging, there will be a real breadth of repertoire,” said Sam Jackson, the controller of BBC Radio 3 and the Proms. “There’s something very special about classical music at night time. The intimacy of certain repertoire really lends itself to that kind of immersive listening,” he continued. “But the intention is not simply to put people to sleep for eight hours, although audiences can of course come and respond to the music in whatever way you want!” Blankets and pillows will however not be allowed into the Royal Albert Hall, the venue confirmed, nor will the seating be reconfigured.
“The only time Lapwood gets to practice the RAH organ is usually between midnight and four in the morning, because it’s the only time when somebody isn’t getting in or getting out for another gig. She absolutely knows how to unleash energy at that time of the day!” added Klein.
Among some notable anniversaries honoured this year, there will be a focus on the music of Shostakovich, who died in 1975, and a complete performance – only the second ever at the Proms – of his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, with the chorus of the English National Opera. Proms regulars Aurora Orchestra will perform his fifth symphony by heart following a dramatic exploration of its troubled origins and meaning, and Chineke! will celebrate their 10th birthday with guest conductor Simon Rattle leading the Black and ethnically diverse orchestra through a programme that includes Shostakovich’s 10th symphony.
Ravel – born 150 years ago – features on the opening weekend: his Piano Concerto for the Left Hand will be played by Nicholas McCarthy, which will be the first time the concerto has been played at the Proms by a one-handed pianist since it was performed by the man it was composed for, Paul Wittgenstein, in 1932. Boulez, whose centenary is celebrated this year, features in three proms including a late-night one performed by the Ensemble intercontemporain (the group he founded), which places his modernist music alongside Luciano Berio’s, whose centenary it also is.
Other international orchestras include the Royal Concertgebouw with their chief conductor designate Klaus Mäkelä, the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Twenty-five proms will be televised – more than ever before, said Klein. “We had record breaking numbers last year, over 5m streams on BBC Sounds, and across TV and iPlayer we reached nearly 13 million people.”
The Royal Albert Hall was full to 96% capacity for evening Proms in 2024, said Jackson. He confirmed that the Last Night will end in its now traditional style, with Rule, Britannia among the closing pieces. “The Last Night always evokes strong opinions and discussion. There are some people for whom it’s a really important tradition, and there are some who say it’s not part of how they would like to celebrate in the summer,” he said. “Our job is to cater for as broad an audience as possible, but also to ask, how can we continue to develop this festival? What can we do differently? How can we introduce new music? And how can we over the course of 86 concerts make sure that there’s a real breadth of repertoire of artists? And then there’s something for everybody.”
• The Proms will run from 18 July to 13 September. General booking opens at 9am on 17 May.
