About this season
The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival. The BBC Proms is a classical music festival held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and in recent years has explored an innovative series of Proms around the UK with concerts in all four nations. Its aim: to bring the best in classical music to the widest possible audience, which remains true to founder-conductor Henry Wood’s original vision in 1895. Whether you are a classical connoisseur or think classical music isn’t for you, there is something for everyone in the eight-week stretch of concerts.
Episodes (15)
1. First Night of the Proms
Aired 28 August 2020 • 180 min
Katie Derham presents the first night of the world’s greatest live classical music festival, with a feast of music including Beethoven’s Third Symphony, Aaron Copland’s Quiet City and a new work by young British composer Hannah Kendall, all brought to you by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers, with conductor Sakari Oramo. Join Katie and special guest Stephen Fry as they celebrate the return of live music to the Royal Albert Hall.
2. The Symphonic Organ
Aired 29 August 2020 • 180 min
Organist Jonathan Scott performs his own virtuosic arrangements of works by Rossini, Mascagni, Dukas, plus a climactic Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3, on the world-famous Royal Albert Hall organ.
3. Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO
Aired 30 August 2020 • 180 min
Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO with a programme of unmissable music featuring star pianist Mitsuko Uchida playing Beethoven, works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams, and a new composition by Thomas Adès.
4. Viennese Night
Aired 31 August 2020 • 180 min
In a Viennese spectacular, the BBC Concert Orchestra are joined by soloists Sophie Bevan and Robert Murray, performing works by Lehár and Johann Strauss II, conducted by Bramwell Tovey.
5. London Sinfonietta
Aired 1 September 2020 • 180 min
The London Sinfonietta perform cutting edge contemporary works by Philip Glass, Tansy Davies, Steve Reich and Anna Meredith.
6. Proms @ MediaCityUK, Salford with the BBC Philharmonic
Aired 2 September 2020 • 180 min
In a change to the originally advertised programme, John Storgårds, the BBC Philharmonic's Chief Guest Conductor, joins the orchestra to conduct Haydn, Britten and Tchaikovsky.
7. Nicola Benedetti and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Aired 3 September 2020 • 180 min
Nicola Benedetti leads a high-energy evening of baroque music with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, led by Jonathan Cohen.
8. Anoushka Shankar and Gold Panda
Aired 4 September 2020 • 180 min
Sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar takes to the stage in an evening dedicated to her father and musical guru, Ravi, in what would have been his centenary year. Anoushka is joined in the first half by electronic music producer and performer Gold Panda for a new imagining of Ravi’s music. In the second half, Jules Buckley, the Britten Sinfonia and soloist Manu Delago accompany Anoushka in a selection of her music. Josie d’Arby presents this unique evening from the Royal Albert Hall.
9. Proms @ City Halls, Glasgow, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Aired 5 September 2020 • 180 min
Stephen Hough plays Beethoven in a concert featuring a World Premiere from Jay Capperauld.
10. Laura Marling and the 12 Ensemble
Aired 6 September 2020 • 180 min
Laura Marling teams up with the 12 Ensemble for a retrospective journey through her back catalogue, as well as showcasing tracks from her 2020 album, Song for Our Daughter.
11. KOKOROKO
Aired 7 September 2020 • 180 min
London based eight-piece band KOKOROKO bring their ‘horn fuelled’ Afrobeat sound to the Proms, led by trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey.
12. Exploring Beethoven’s Seventh
Aired 10 September 2020 • 180 min
To celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, Tom Service and the Aurora Orchestra present a unique evening in which conductor Nicholas Collon and the orchestra take apart Beethoven’s popular Seventh Symphony and show us the inner workings of the composer’s creative genius, followed by a performance of the work in the orchestra’s signature style - from memory! Also on the bill at the Royal Albert Hall is a new work by British composer Richard Ayres, whose piece is inspired by Beethoven’s struggle with his loss of hearing.
13. Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason
Aired 11 September 2020 • 180 min
Superstar siblings Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason perform their first Prom together, an evening of chamber music for cello and piano.
14. Proms at BBC Hoddinott Hall, Cardiff
Aired 12 September 2020 • 180 min
Ryan Bancroft joins BBC NOW as principal conductor at BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay for his first official engagement, his Proms debut and the first Prom from Wales! Martinu’s quirky Jazz Suite complements John Adams’s Chamber Symphony, written in 1992. After the world premiere of a new BBC commission by British composer Gavin Higgins, there are two evocative American classics by Barber and Copland. Acclaimed soprano Natalya Romaniw from Swansea, who represented Wales in Cardiff Singer of the World, joins the orchestra for this unforgettable Prom.
15. Last Night of the Proms
Aired 12 September 2020 • 180 min
Featuring South African soprano Golda Schultz with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under its principal guest conductor Dalia Stasevska. Presented by Katie Derham.