The 2023 BBC Proms, “the world’s greatest classical music festival”, return with 71 concerts throughout the UK from 14 July through The Last Night of the Proms celebration, featuring cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, on 9 September. Conductors Semyon Bychkov, Vladimir Jurowski, Jaime Martín and Vasily Petrenko; pianists Kirill Gerstein and Isata Kanneh-Mason; soprano Mané Galoyan and mezze-soprano Alice Coote will perform in extraordinary concerts throughout this eight, unforgettable weeks of music.
The following concerts take place at London’s Royal Albert Hall
26 July – Prom 16: The Hallé performs Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony
Mané Galoyan, soprano
Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 combine in an all-Russian programme from Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé.
Programme
Sergey Rachmaninov: The Bells
Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D minor
Performing with Dmytro Popov, tenor; Rodion Pogossov. Baritone; BBC Symphony Chorus; Hallé Choir; Hallé; Sir Mark Elder, conductor
1 august – Prom 22: Isata Kanneh-Mason plays Prokofiev
Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Principal Conductor Ryan Bancroft return for the second of their consecutive Proms. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 is paired with Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with soloist Isata Kanneh-Mason.
Programme
Sergey Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor
Performing with BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Ryan Bancroft, conductor
8 august – Prom 32: Holst’s The Planets
Jaime Martín, conductor
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Jaime Martín present Holst’s epic suite The Planets alongside works by Grace Williams and Dora Pejačević.
Programme
Dora Pejačević: Overture
Grace Williams: Violin Concerto
Gustav Holst: The Planets
Performing with Geneva Lewis, violin; BBC National Orchestra of Wales
15 August – Prom 41: Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto
Vasily Petrenko, conductor
French pianist Alexandre Kantorow makes his Proms debut in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra also perform Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 and anniversary composer Ligeti’s Lontano.
Programme
György Ligeti: Lontano
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major
Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 in E minor
Performing with Alexandre Kantorow, piano; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
31 August – Prom 60: Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor and Kirill Gerstein, piano
Tonight we welcome the esteemed Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra – making its Proms debut under Chief Conductor Vladimir Jurowski in a programme of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 3, Thomas Adès’s Piano Concerto and Weill’s Kleine Dreigroschenmusik.
Programme
Kurt Weill: Kleine Dreigroschenmusik
Thomas Adès: Piano Concerto
Sergey Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3 in A minor
Performing with Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra
3 September – Prom 64: Berlioz’s The Trojans
Alice Coote – Cassandra
Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Monteverdi Choir – plus an outstanding cast of soloists – in this concert performance of Berlioz’s grand opera The Trojans.
Programme Hector Berlioz: The Trojans
Performers include Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique; Sir John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
4 September – Prom 65: Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony
Semyon Bychkov, conductor
Semyon Bychkov conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony – the last the composer would ever complete.
Programme Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 in C minor (1890 version, ed. Nowak)
Performing with BBC Symphony Orchestra
9 September – Prom 71: Last Night of the Proms 2023
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello
Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and soprano Lise Davidsen join conductor Marin Alsop and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for the biggest musical party of the year.
Programme
Richard Strauss: Don Juan
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Deep River, arr. S. Parkin
Max Bruch: Kol nidrei, Op. 47
James B. Wilson: 1922, BBC commission: world premiere
Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser – ‘Dich, teure Halle’
Pietro Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana – Easter Hymn, Intermezzo
Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth – ‘Vieni! t’affretta!’
Emmerich Kálmán: The Gypsy Princess – ‘Heia, heia, in den Bergen ist mein Heimatland’
Trad.: Fantasia on British Sea Songs, arr. Wood
Thomas Arne: Rule, Britannia!, arr. Sargent
Edward Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major, ‘Land of Hope and Glory’
Hubert Parry: Jerusalem, orch. Elgar
The National Anthem, arr. Britten
Auld Lang Syne, arr. Paul Campbell
Performing with Lise Davidsen, soprano; BBC Singers; BBC Symphony Chorus; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop, conductor
Programme text from the BBC Proms: Semyon Bychkov, Kirill Gerstein, Isata Kanneh-Mason and Sheku Kanneh-Mason are represented in association with Enticott Music Management. Vladimir Jurwoski and Vasily Petrenko are managed in association with Nicholas Mathias Ltd.