BBC Proms — Season 57

Aired 18 July 2003

It's that time of year again. Promenaders will be donning their finery and flocking to events around the country to celebrate the highlight of the classical music season. Stephanie Andrews introduces the opening concert live from the Royal Albert Hall , where chief conductor Leonard Slatkin will be leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC National Chorus of Wales with mezzo Irina Tchistyakova and baritone James Rutherford in tonight's programme.

Aired 20 July 2003

Two British opera stars, the soprano Rosemary Joshua and tenor John Mark Ainsley , sing arias voted for in the BBC Proms/Radio Times Readers' Poll in the annual concert of popular classics from London's Royal Albert Hall. The programme also features David Attenborough , narrating Prokofiev's famous symphonic fairy tale Peter and the Wolf, and the young Dutch violinist Janine Jansen , who appears as a soloist in Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams. With the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood.

Aired 21 July 2003

Pianist Stephen Hough guests as BBC4's two-week Proms coverage begins. The Budapest Festival Orchestra, conducted by Ivan Fischer, play Brahms's Piano Concerto No 1 in D minor and Rachmaninov's Symphony No 2 in E minor. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood.

Aired 22 July 2003

The 350th anniversary of Arcangelo Corelli 's birth is celebrated with a performance of his Christmas Concerto in tonight's concert - which also features Handel's Dixit Dominus , HWV232. The English Concert and Academy of Ancient Music are joined by leading soloists, conducted by Andrew Manze.

Aired 23 July 2003

London symphonies by Vaughan Williams and Haydn feature alongside American composer William Schuman's "A Song of Orpheus". The BBC Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Leonard Slatkin , with cellist Paul Watkins. Charles Hazlewood hosts.

Aired 24 July 2003

Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs and Beethoven's Symphony No 5 in C minor are performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda , with Italian soprano Barbara Frittoli. Plus Scottish composer James MacMillan conducts the European premiere of his third symphony, Silence. Introduced by Tommy Pearson.

Aired 25 July 2003

Ruby - a new percussion concerto composed by Joe Duddell and performed by Colin Currie - is the centrepiece of tonight's programme. Tommy Pearson also introduces music by Bartok and Tchaikovsky, as conductor Marin Alsop makes her Proms debut with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Aired 26 July 2003

The Halle Orchestra perform Elgar's epic Symphony No 1 in A flat - a work they premiered 95 years ago - in their sole showing at this year's Proms. Conductor Mark Elder talks to host Tommy Pearson. The programme also includes Berlioz's Les Nuits d'Ete and Colin Matthews's new work Vivo.

Aired 27 July 2003

Composer John Adams conducts the European premiere of his On the Transmigration of Souls - a reflection on the events of 11 September 2001. The BBC Symphony Orchestra also plays music by Haydn, Bartok and Copland.

Aired 28 July 2003

Berlioz's "sacred trilogy" L'Enfance du Christ is performed as part of the bicentenary celebration of the composer's birth. John Eliot Gardiner conducts the choir of Clare College, Cambridge, the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique.

Aired 29 July 2003

Richard Strauss 's Elektra is performed by London Voices and the BBC Scottish Symphony, conducted by Donald Runnicles. Gabriele Schnaut. Janice Watson and Felicity Palmer are among the singers.

Aired 30 July 2003

Grainger, Walton, Elgar, Turnage, Tippett, Bax and Britten are all on the menu in a 50th-anniversary celebration of the coronation, attended by Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. Andrew Davis conducts the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra.

Aired 31 July 2003

Mozart's Violin Concerto No 5 in A, K (Turkish), Ligeti's Lontano and Beethoven's Symphony No 6 in F (Pastoral) are presented by Christopher Gunness. Christian Gansch conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, featuring violinist Antje Weithaas.

Aired 31 July 2003

Music by British composers provides a stirring programme for a concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the coronation, which took place yesterday evening in front of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at London's Royal Albert Hall. Michael Parkinson presents highlights of the night's entertainment, conducted by Andrew Davis, which feature mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers, the choristers of Winchester Cathedral, and the BBC Singers, Symphony Chorus and Orchestra performing works such as Walton's Coronation Te Deum, Elgar's Sea Pictures and Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.

Aired 1 August 2003

Tuur's Violin Concerto, Musorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain and Prokofiev's Symphony No 6 are played by the BBC Philharmonic. Christopher Gunness talks to conductor Paavo Jarvi and violinist Isabelle van Keuien in the interval.

Aired 2 August 2003

Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No 3 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 5 in E minor are preceded by the UK premiere of HK Gruber's Dancing in the Dark. The BBC Philharmonic is conducted by Vassily Sinaisky. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood.

Aired 3 August 2003

Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, Mozart's Piano Concerto No 9 in E flat (pianist Leif Ove Andsnes) and Mendelssohn's Symphony No 3 in A minor (Scottish) form this evening's programme. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra is conducted by New Yorker Alan Gilbert, making his debut at the Proms. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood.

Aired 9 August 2003

Stephanie Hughes presents tonight's promenade concert from London's Royal Albert Hall , where the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain are making their annual visit. Yan Pascal Tortelier guest- conducts as the ensemble performs two major works by composers whose music is being celebrated in 2003. First on the programme is an early work from Messiaen, the "symphonic meditation" Les Offrandes Oubliées. The Byronic concerto Harold in Italy by Berlioz - whose bicentenary is this year - follows, with viola soloist Lawrence Power. The evening climaxes with Prokofiev's rousing Symphony No 5 in B flat major, a work he composed nine years before his death in 1953. In the interval Stephanie Hughes is joined by special guests.

Aired 16 August 2003

A selection of some of the greatest British film music, presented by actor Timothy West, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and conducted by Rumon Gamba live at London's Royal Albert Hall. Scores from the 1930s and 40s such as Richard Addinsell's Warsaw Concerto, performed by pianist Philip Fowke, and Arthur Bliss's Things to Come contrast with more recent classics - Richard Rodney Bennett's Murder on the Orient Express, Malcolm Arnold's suite for The Belles of St Trinian's, the soundtrack to The Cruel Sea and themes from the Bond movies. Introduced by Stephanie Hughes who, in the interval, is joined by special guests, including film director Ken Russell and composer Michael Nyman.

Aired 21 August 2003

The violinist Viktoria Mullova is joined by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Bremen, under the baton of British conductor Daniel Harding in a performance of Sibelius's tempestuous yet lyrical Violin Concerto. The concert, from the Royal Albert Hall, concludes with Beethoven's joyful Symphony No 7 in A. Introduced by Stephanie Hughes.

Aired 23 August 2003

The BBC Symphony Orchestra's chief conductor, Leonard Slatkin , lifts his baton in London's Royal Albert Hall to conduct a programme selected entirely from the rich repertoire of Russian orchestral music. Highlights include Sergei Prokofiev 's score for the ballet Romeo and Juliet, the dawn prelude to Musorgsky's epic opera Khovanshchina, and Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No 1, with exciting young German soloist Christian Tetzlaff. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood who, in the interval, is joined by special guests, including tonight's soloist Christian Tetzlaff and Shostakovich expert Elizabeth Wilson.

Aired 30 August 2003

Live coverage from London's Royal Albert Hall of Prom 54. Virtuoso conductor Mariss Jansons leads the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra through their second Prom, which forms part of his farewell European tour as the orchestra's Music Director. The programme opens with a rendition of Mendelssohn's richly lyrical Violin Concerto in E minor. Following the interval, the orchestra is joined by acclaimed Israeli-American violinist Gil Shaham for a performance of Mahler's titanic Symphony No 1. Prior to the second act, presenter Stephanie Hughes will be talking to both the soloist and the conductor.

Aired 13 September 2003

Soprano Angela Gheorghiu and violinist Leila Josefowicz star in the final Proms season concert, live from the Royal Albert Hall. Presented by Stephanie Hughes. The BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and BBC Chorus - conducted by Leonard Slatkin - perform Berlioz's Overture: Roman Carnival, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saens, Pavane by Faure, a premiere of the newly commissioned Lumina by Joseph Phibbs, Ebben? Ne Andro Lontana (La Wally) by Catalani, O Dieu! Que de Bijoux! from Gounod's Faust and Stridono Lassu (Pagliacci) by Leoncavallo.

Aired 13 September 2003

The Proms season comes to a spectacular close as BBC1 takes over live coverage, introduced by Stephanie Hughes. The second-half programme commences with Overture: The Wasps by Vaughan Williams, Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor) by Borodin, Meditation (Thais) by Massenet, L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Carmen) by Bizet and Muzica (Valurile Dunarii) by Grigoriu. The evening concludes with the traditional celebrations as the audience in London's Royal Albert Hall are joined in song by the thousands attending Proms in the Park events around the country.