https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/rrbp5v/by/date/2023
84 Proms to feature over 3,000 musicians
Friday 14 July – Saturday 9 September 2023
- The 2023 Proms features a huge breadth of programming, from Berlioz to Bollywood, large scale symphonic and choral work to intimate chamber concerts and exciting Proms debuts.
- The first ever weekend-long Proms festival rooted in the North-East launches at Sage Gateshead, in a collaboration with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and conductor Robert Ames. Family, orchestral and chamber concerts feature in a programme that opens with the Proms debut of 2022 Mercury Award nominee, Self Esteem.
- In addition to the weekend of Proms at Sage Gateshead, the Proms will take place across all four nations of the UK; at Guildhall Londonderry, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Dewsbury Town Hall, Hall for Cornwall in Truro, Perth Concert Hall and the Hippodrome in Great Yarmouth.
- Every Prom at the Royal Albert Hall and ‘Proms at’ chamber concert across the UK will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. For the first time, the majority of concerts will be available on BBC Sounds for 12 months. BBC television and BBC iPlayer will broadcast 24 programmes, including the First Night and Last Night of the Proms, and these will be available to watch on iPlayer for 12 months.
- Across the season there is a wealth of opera and oratorio, with a complete performance of Berlioz’s five act grand opera The Trojans and the highly anticipated UK premiere of György Kurtág’s first opera, Endgame. Large-scale choral repertoire features throughout the season, from Rachmaninov’s The Bells to Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.
- The season features a compelling line-up of international orchestras, including the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich.
- The Proms marks the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninov’sbirth with 11 of his works performed during the season. Other composer anniversaries include Dora Pejačević, György Ligeti, Thomas Weelkes and William Byrd.
- 15 new commissions and co-commissions showcase the extraordinary range of today’s orchestral composers.
- Sir Simon Rattle conducts two concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra: Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 and Poulenc’s Figure humaine (with the BBC Singers),and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri.
- The Proms continues its exploration of orchestral collaborations with non-classical artists, including Rufus Wainwright, Self Esteem and Jon Hopkins.
- Lauded Indian singer Palak Muchhal joins the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra led by Michael Seal for a Bollywood Prom, writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie curates the first Northern Soul Prom, and fado comes to the Proms for the first time with Portuguese singer Mariza.
- The BBC Orchestras and Choirs perform in 32 Proms, including 14 premieres. The BBC Singers will perform at five Proms, including the First and Last Nights and a Late Night Prom, showcasing their broad range of repertoire.
- Dalia Stasevska conducts the First Night,featuring pianist Paul Lewis and a world premiere from Ukrainian composer Bohdana Frolyak. The Last Night of the Proms will be conducted by Marin Alsop featuring cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and soprano Lise Davidsen with a world premiere by James B. Wilson.
- The ever-innovative Aurora Orchestra returns to the Proms for its greatest challenge to date: a dramatisation of the origins of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring followed by a performance of the piece, entirely from memory.
- The Proms continues its commitment to accessible ticket prices with seats from £9 and half-price tickets for under-18s (plus booking fees) and Promming day standing tickets at £8 (inclusive of booking fees).
The BBC Proms 2023 launches with a programme bursting with opera, oratorio and large-scale choral work and the first ever weekend-long Proms festival rooted in the North-East at Sage Gateshead.
A complete performance of Berlioz’s five-act grand opera The Trojans – the first in the UK for more than 10 years – will be performed by the Monteverdi Choir and the Orchestra Révolutionnaire et Romantique under Sir John Eliot Gardiner in his 80th-birthday year. And György Kurtág’s highly anticipated first opera gets its UK premiere at the Proms:an operatic version of Samuel Beckett‘s play Endgame,performed by theBBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth.
Further choral, opera and oratorio highlights across the season includeGlyndebourne Festival Opera’s production of Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites; Handel’s Samson with the Academy of Ancient Music and an all-star cast led by Allan Clayton; Mendelssohn’s Elijah performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Chorus led by Maxim Emelyanychev; Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast performed by baritone Thomas Hampson, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Klaus Mäkelä;and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus led by Sir Simon Rattle. Rachmaninov’s The Bells,a Proms favourite, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem and thought to be Rachmaninov’s favourite of his own works, will ring out loud and clear, performed by the BBC Symphony Chorus, the Hallé and the Hallé Choir under Sir Mark Elder.
The BBC Orchestras and Choirs perform in 32 Proms, including 14 premieres. The BBC Singers will perform at First Night, Last Night, concerts with Sir Simon Rattle and Jon Hopkins and in their own Late Night Prom showcasing their huge range of repertoire. The BBC’s own orchestras perform alongside a roster of star soloists including Yuja Wang, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Lise Davidsen.
The season will see more international orchestras return to the Royall Albert Hall, including the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer, with their much-loved ‘audience choice’ programme, in which the audience chooses and votes live from a list of 250 dances, overtures, marches and symphonic movements. The Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons perform two Promsfeaturing two European premieres: Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances andJulia Adolphe’s Makeshift Castle. Augustin Hadelich performs with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich led by Paavo Järvi, Kirill Gerstein performs with the 100-year-old Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra led by Vladimir Jurowski, Pekka Kuusisto performs withDeutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Raphaël Pichon conducts Mozart’s Requiem with Pygmalion.
The Proms continues its exploration of orchestral collaborations with non-classical artists. Rufus Wainwright performs the world premiere of Want Symphonic (his orchestral adaptation of his studio albums Want One and Want Two)and special guests join Jules Buckley, who returns with the Jules Buckley Orchestra, following their spectacular debut last year. Jon Hopkins makes his Proms debut with a 22-minute psychedelic drone epic for orchestra, choir and piano, alongside reinterpretation of pieces from his critically acclaimed albums.
New musical genres are featured at the Proms for the first time. Marking the 50th anniversary of the world-famous Wigan Casino, which helped make Northern Soul nights in the north of England a global phenomenon, Keep the Faith: Northern Soul, in partnership with BBC Radio 6 Music, marries the underground British club culture of the 1960s and 1970s with the symphonic edge of the BBC Concert Orchestra, under Edwin Outwater. Fado is also featured at the Proms for the first time in a concert featuring award-winning Portuguese singer Mariza. A Bollywood Prom, Lata Mangashkar: Bollywood Legend, in partnership with BBC Asian Network,pays tributeto the late playback singer, featuring Indian star singer Palak Muchhal with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Michael Seal.
Alongside the broadening of its musical offering, the Proms continues to increase its geographical reach. A weekend of six Proms at Sage Gateshead is launched with a special collaboration between the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Robert Ames. The weekend opens with singer-songwriter Self Esteem and then includes performances of jazz, African American spiritual, choral music and more. Across the UK, the ‘Proms at’ chamber concerts take place at Aberystwyth, Derry, Dewsbury, Perth and Truro, and the BBC Concert Orchestra presents a concert at the unique Hippodrome in Great Yarmouth as part of their ongoing residency.
The season culminates in the Last Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and BBC Singers. This year’s festival finale is led by Marin Alsop, who is joined by Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Lise Davidsen. Alongside traditional Last Night of the Proms favourites, audiences can enjoy the world premiere of 1922, a celebration of the BBC’s centenary from fast-rising British composer James B. Wilson.
David Pickard, Director, BBC Proms says: “There is no other classical music festival in the world to match the range and breadth of the BBC Proms. It is the place where so many discover orchestral music for the first time – whether through a cornerstone of the classical repertoire, ground-breaking new work or collaborations with some of today’s most exciting artists. Our musical range in 2023 extends from Bach to Bollywood and geographically from Gateshead to Great Yarmouth as we continue to build on Henry Wood’s vision of ‘the best of classical music for the widest possible audience.”
A key mission for the Proms is to bring classical music to the widest possible audience through a variety of different concert formats. The ever-innovative Aurora Orchestra presents a dramatisation of the origins of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, followed by a performance of the work, entirely from memory. The team behind the hugely successful Horrible Histories present ’Orrible Opera, an irreverent introduction to opera featuring the Orchestra and Chorus of English National Opera. The weekend festival at Sage Gateshead closes with CBeebies: Ocean Adventure, featuring the Royal Northern Sinfonia conducted by Kwamé Ryan. At the Royal Albert Hall, a relaxed performance of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Prom with Felix Klieser will include British Sign Language and onstage presentation.
Throughout its 128-year history, the Proms has been at the forefront of musical innovation. This year, the festival will premiere 23 new works, 15 of which have been commissioned or co-commissioned by the BBC. New music highlights include the world premiere of Begin Afresh from Master of the King’s Music Judith Weir. Kirill Karabits conducts the UK premiere of his father Ivan Karabits’s Concerto for Orchestra No. 1, ‘A Musical Gift to Kyiv’, and Ryan Wigglesworth conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Chorus for the UK premiere of Helen Grime’s Meditations on Joy.
The 2023 Proms marks the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninov’sbirth. Eleven of his works will be performed during the season, including the popular favourite Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini performed by Yuja Wang, the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor performed by Benjamin Grosvenor, and Rachmaninov’s own rumoured personal favourite, The Bells. This year also marks 100 years since the death of Dora Pejačević, the first prominent female Croatian composer, with performances of her works including the Symphony in F sharp minor and her Cello Sonata. And we reflect 100 years since the birth of György Ligeti, one of the boldest voices of the 20th century, whose ear-bending sounds brought wit as well as invention to the concert hall. Performances of his works include Concert Românesc, Violin Concerto, Lontano, Mysteries of the Macabre and choral works Nonsense Madrigals, Requiem and Lux aeterna. William Byrd and Thomas Weelkes, leading figures of the Renaissance English choral tradition, both died 400 years ago. Performances of their works include secular and sacred works by Byrd sung by Stile Antico and a selection of Weelkes’s madrigals with The Gesualdo Six. Samuel Coleridge Taylor is also celebrated throughout the season, with a particularly exciting concert from Chineke! Orchestra under Anthony Parnther and featuring solo trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo.
Sam Jackson, Controller, BBC Radio 3 says: “I’m greatly looking forward to my first Proms season as Controller, with such an ambitious and diverse series of concerts on offer – at the Royal Albert Hall, and across the UK. And I’m delighted that, for the first time, most Proms will be available on BBC Sounds for a year, extending the national and international reach of the world’s biggest and longest-running classical music festival.”
General booking opens at 9am on Saturday 13 May: www.bbc.co.uk/proms
Where’s my favourite conductor, Martyn Brabbins?
that does seem odd; but a least he is not repeating the terrible BEOWULF piece! Shame not to have his VW.
pjl is referring to this:
http://www.colinscolumn.com/martyn-brabbins-and-vaughan-williamss-job-a-masque-for-dancing/
Oh dear.
This promises to be the worst season in my lifetime. I am 75!
Tired of repetitive concerts in London already having celebrated Rach 150th.
A plethora of composers I have never heard of, mainly women.
No respect paid to our established composers in need of exposure for their art.
The obvious visiting orchestras playing repertoire even popular on CFM.
A write off I am afraid. No sense of adventure and reliant on a lot if no hopers.
The BBC used up its quota of superlatives and self-aggrandising descriptions with the above and in the listing of the concerts for what is a bland raggedy season, too many everyday works! My interests are in very few concerts, less than 10.
Rachmaninov’s The Bells,a Proms favourite, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem and thought to be Rachmaninov’s favourite of his own works, will ring out loud and clear,
How do we know that this work will ‘ring out loud and clear’ in this particular performance?
Apart from Rachmaninov, where are the significant-birthday composers during this prom season? Cowie, Holloway, Bryars, several others, are all missing. Ignorance? bias? Certainly disrespect and folly.
I’ll bet a fiver on ignorance.
Very few things of interest, sadly, save for the new pieces, Trojans, and the Kurtag opera. Otherwise it’s a list of London concerts already gone and which we’ll get again once the proms are over. I don’t want to hear the Planets or New World symphony again, or the familiar Rachmaninov pieces.
I have only been sent the press release, so I cannot comment on the entire season, the heart of which is contained in the comment of the recently-appointed Controller of Radio 3. Time was when that post included the planning of the Proms season, but the days of such planning being in the hands of a musician are long gone. As for Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, does anyone at the BBC – or any member of the six Proms sub-committees – even know that Rachmaninoff rewrote the third movement especially for Henry Wood who went on to give the British premiere of the work? Which version is going to be performed? The original of 1914 or the revised Henry Wood version? Boosey & Hawkes keep both versions, and this has sometimes led to acute embarrassment at rehearsals: whichever is given, I think we should be told. Why not the British premiere of the original version of the Fourth Piano Concerto, or the Prelude to The Miserly Knight, made especially for Henry Wood in 1938 – never recorded, and only been performed once since?
Bob, click on the link at the top of this post for a concert-by-concert guide. Colin
Pickard has swapped (dumped?) experience for largely unknown (to me) youth in terms of celebrating British composers.
This one of my many criticisms including a repertoire judged fit for Classic FM listeners.
The poor man has been told to up the anti and reduce the deficit. The shadow of the poor state of the overall BBC’s finances is brutally evident this year.
Shocking omissions of established living British composers, apparently mostly (all?) white male. Is this sexist? Racist?
On reading through the 2023 BBC Proms Prospectus, it is difficult not to conclude that that which many music-lovers will immediately grasp, and which the employees of the BBC will never – so long as they remain in employment – understand, is the inane, downright ignorant, language in which these Proms programmes are described, language which, on the one hand, is couched in yesterday’s media-speak, which any self-respecting lover of classical music will consider to be insulting, and on the other fails to mention genuinely interesting aspects (presumably accidental) of the music which may (just) attract someone who might otherwise not consider attending or even listening to a Prom.
The BBC has five permanent symphony orchestras, and access to at least three long-established British orchestras (the Hallé, City of Birmingham Symphony and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic). On consulting past Proms prospectuses, it was the norm for the BBC Symphony Orchestra to play every Prom for, say, a fortnight, at a time when Proms would sometimes begin at 7pm and go on longer than they do today, one conductor – Sir Malcolm Sargent – being engaged to conduct around 75% of the season’s concerts. Occasionally, a provincial orchestra, such as the Hallé, would be in London for several days, and give consecutive programmes under Sir John Barbirolli. The financial savings were considerable – no shifting of instruments, for example. Robert Simpson’s book, ‘The Proms and Natural Justice’ (1981), which demonstrated how a considerable amount of money could be saved without compromising in any way the nature and repertoire of the Season, outlined a simple solution, a solution so self-evident that, at the time, it earned an enthusiastic endorsement and recommendation in the Editorial columns of The Daily Telegraph. Needless to say, the suggestions of Simpson (a BBC employee for thirty years, and someone who knew what he was talking about) were ignored by those in the behemoth that has always considered it knows best.
It doesn’t. Is there truly a cadre of BBC employees who think that members of the public who know very little about ‘classical music’ will be encouraged to spend up to more than £60 for a seat on the basis of reading some profoundly ill-informed sentence gushing over ‘romantic Rachmaninoff’, ‘dramatic Berlioz’ or ‘challenging Xenakis’? When a performance of Kurt Weill’s Dreigroschenoper suite is listed without a mention that the work contains the original version of ‘Mack the Knife’, ignoring Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald or Bobby Darin in the process, one knows only too well that those responsible for writing such drivel are downright ignorant.
It is certainly true that Henry Wood included popular material of the day in his earliest programmes, in a – successful – attempt to attract an audience that might find the lighter, genuine classical pieces in the programmes equally appealing, and go on to discover more about the great music that is also the individual’s inheritance – but Wood never, ever, gave a programme entirely devoted to hits of the day. Such programmes do not sit comfortably alongside a Beethoven symphony, a Haydn Mass, or a Berlioz Overture, any more than Dizzee Rascal today would, alongside David Matthews or Francis Pott.
Personally, I have nothing against Dizzee Rascal, or any other good Grime artist – I happen to like his music-making – but, by engaging pop artists at the expense of the kind of music for which the Proms has been famous for decades in a crystal-clear attempt at ‘increasing audiences’, or – perhaps more significantly – increasing the overall financial take to demonstrate to the BBC’s bean-counters (who have to find the money to pay Gary Lineker from somewhere) that the Proms is financially self-supporting, the essence of what the Proms season is becomes both aesthetically diluted and eventually lost.
It may well be (as I believe) that we are witnessing the deliberate decline of the significance of what is still euphemistically referred to as ‘classical music’, an aesthetic in danger of being swept away by the actions of well-meaning (we have to give them that) unknowledgeable people in a somewhat pathetic (because it is fruitless and never-ending) attempt to appear ‘up-to-date’.
The downside is that the work of established British composers of classical concert music is ignored. There are several such composers who are celebrating significant birthdays this year, composers whose music has been successfully performed and welcomed during previous Proms seasons, but who, this year, are shamefully ignored. One can only put this down to ignorance on the part of the Proms planners – one hesitates to term it ‘deliberate’ – but this in turn may well be the consequence of the downright criminal act of Michael Gove in removing Music as a core subject from the national curriculum ten years ago, which has already led to a generation of musically-inclined people being in ignorance of, almost literally cut-adrift from, their own (not necessarily national) musical heritage.
Unless some considerable Middle-Eastern subvention is forthcoming from the recent purchasers of Newcastle Football Club, there is absolutely no reason on God’s earth for the BBC to mount a short concurrent Proms season in Gateshead with the Royal Northern Sinfonia – the idea is grotesque – for, if this is ‘levelling-up’ in musical terms, it puts the BBC in the ludicrous position of promoting two separate Proms orchestral concerts on the same night.
Clearly, to anyone who knows anything about the subject, this year’s Proms season is a mess.