BBC reveals 2024 Proms season
Florence Lockheart
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Running from 19 July to 14 September, this year’s season will include 90 Proms at the festival’s Royal Albert Hall home and across the UK
The BBC has today revealed details of its upcoming 2024 Proms season, which is set to feature 90 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and at venues across the UK. The festival, which marks the final Proms season under outgoing director David Pickard, will welcome guests from all over the world as well as providing a platform for a range of home-grown talent from the BBC Singers to Florence + The Machine.
This year will see the Proms launch a new residency in venues across Nottingham as well as arriving in Bristol for the first time, marking the start of a partnership with Bristol Beacon and Open Up Music focusing on inclusive access to classical music. The festival will also return to Gateshead for a weekend-long residency at the Glasshouse International Centre for Music as well as presenting performances in Aberdeen, Belfast and Newport.
Radio 3 and BBC Proms controller Sam Jackson said: ‘Following last year’s record-breaking figures on BBC Sounds and iPlayer, we're thrilled to be bringing the Proms to millions of people this summer. Nowhere other than Radio 3 can audiences hear the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony and West-Eastern Divan Orchestras, alongside concerts celebrating the music of Doctor Who, 1970s disco and choral singing – not to mention the multiple Proms featuring the BBC's own outstanding ensembles. Huge thanks to David Pickard, who has programmed a remarkable season, with something that caters to every musical taste. Twenty-four Proms will be on TV and iPlayer and, as always, every note will be broadcast on Radio 3 and BBC Sounds.’
The 2024 proms will kick off on 19 July with a First Night conducted by Elim Chan featuring soloists Isata Kanneh-Mason and Sophie Bevan, plus a world premiere of Ben Nobuto’s Hallelujah Sim. Across the season the Proms will welcome guests from all over the world including cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who performs with Leonidas Kavakos and Emanuel Ax, and Jamie Barton, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Yunchan Lim, Anthony McGill and Víkingur Ólafsson.
Orchestral guests are set to include the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle (pictured below) in his first season as chief conductor, the Orchestre de Paris under Klaus Mäkelä and the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenk. The Czech Philharmonic under Jakub Hrůša presents two Proms in the Year of Czech Music, while the West–Eastern Divan celebrates its 25th anniversary year under co-founder Daniel Barenboim.
Sir Simon Rattle presented his final UK performance as music director of the London Symphony Orchestra at last year's Proms ©Mark Allan
The 2024 Proms will mark several anniversaries for composers, orchestras and landmark works. The festival marks 200 years since the birth of Anton Bruckner with performances of seven of his works – including Psalm 150 which will be performed on the First Night of the Proms – the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schoenberg will be marked by performances of Pelleas and Melisande, Verklärte Nacht and the composer’s Violin Concerto, performed by Patricia Kopatchinskaja alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
An all-French programme by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under conductor Stéphane Denève marks the centenary of the death of French composer Gabriel Fauré with his Requiem and suite from Pelleas and Melisande, while the Last Night of the Proms will feature his Pavane. A performance of Gustav Holst’s The Planets with the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra celebrates 150 years since the composer’s birth alongside performances of The Evening Watch, The Cloud Messenger and Hammersmith.
Czech composer Bedřich Smetana’s 200th birthday will be celebrated with a performance of Má vlast by the Berlin Philharmonic under Kirill Petrenko, while the centenary of the death of Ferruccio Busoni has led pianist Benjamin Grosvenor to tackle the composer’s Piano Concerto alongside Edward Gardner. Irish composer Charles Villiers Stanford is also recognized, 100 years on from his death, with The Fairy Lough and works selected from his Songs of Faith and Eight Partsongs.
Additionally, this year also marks the anniversaries of several renowned works: the 150-year anniversary of Verdi’s Requiem, the 300th anniversary of Bach’s St John Passion, the centenary of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s ninth and final symphony, which will be performed entirely from memory by Aurora Orchestra.
The BBC Proms will also celebrate choral music, with a three-concert Choral Day featuring The Sixteen under Harry Christophers, plus Jason Max Ferdinand and his Singers making their Proms debut before joining a massed performance of Handel’s Messiah with Fourth Choir, LYC Chamber Choir, Bath Minerva Choir, Philharmonia Chorus, Voices of the River’s Edge and Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by John Butt. In the BBC Singers’ centenary year, they will perform in seven Proms including the First Night and the Last Night as well as a dedicated BBC Singers at 100 concert at Bristol Beacon.
The BBC Singers perform alongside Soumik Datta, Aref Durvesh and Prathap Ramachandra in Prom 69a, led by Sofi Jeannin © Chris Christodoulou
The 2024 season will include a series of works by French women from the past 300 years as well as continuing the BBC’s ‘commitment to championing new music’. This year’s programme features 24 premieres by composers including Anna Clyne, Steve Reich, Carlos Simon, Julius Eastman, Mary Lou Williams and Eric Whitacre, who conducts the BBC Singers, 12 Ensemble and pianist Christopher Glynn in the premiere of his own piece Eternity in an Hour.
As well as welcoming the return of Glyndebourne Festival Opera with its 2024 production of Carmen, opera is represented in the 2024 Proms programme with three different interpretations of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Purcell’s The Fairy Queen in the celebrated production by choreographer and director Mourad Merzouki; Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream performed by Garsington Opera in the company’s Proms debut; and Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – incidental music performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and NYCOS Chamber Choir alongside readings from the play.
As well as the Prom’s beloved classical and orchestra offering, the upcoming season will feature new themed Proms including a Doctor Who Prom, a CBeebies Prom and a Disco Prom. Florence + The Machine’s Florence Welch will make her BBC Proms debut, performing her BRIT Award-winning 2009 album Lungs in its entirety alongside Jules Buckley and his orchestra, while Sam Smith makes their only UK appearance of 2024 with the BBC Concert Orchestra for a retrospective look at their debut solo album In the Lonely Hour.
The 2024 Proms will also bring film music to the fore with Reel Change: Soundtracks at the Cutting Edge with the London Contemporary Orchestra and conductor Robert Ames before celebrating the centenary of the birth of film composer Henry Mancini with Edwin Outwater and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
The Last Night of the Proms will be conducted by Sakari Oramo, featuring pianist Sir Stephen Hough and soprano Angel Blue, who makes her BBC Proms debut. Every Prom will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3. BBC Television and BBC iPlayer will broadcast 24 programmes, including the First Night and Last Night of the Proms. All performances will be available to watch on BBC iPlayer for 12 months.
