BBC Proms 2020

Wednesday 19th August 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

A solo recital by star pianist Evgeny Kissin.

Martin Handley introduces this 1997 recital - the first-ever solo piano recital at the Proms - showcasing the Russian phenomenon Evgeny Kissin in only his second Proms performance. At 26, his performances and recordings had already brought him the kind of attention reserved for the starriest virtuosos - such as Chopin and Liszt themselves, whose music he plays here alongside Haydn's noble Sonata No 52. Liszt's fiendishly difficult Hungarian Rhapsody No 12 is the jewel in centre of this mammoth recital. With eight distinctive melodies, it is the most thematically rich of the 19 Rhapsodies - as well as one of the most popular. Closing the performance is the last of Chopin's three piano sonatas. Haydn: Sonata No 52 in E flat. Liszt: Liebesträum No 3 in A flat. Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No 12 in C sharp minor. Chopin: Nocturnes Ops 27 Nos 1 & 2. Chopin: Piano Sonata No 3 in B minor. Evgeny Kissin (piano). From the BBC Proms, 10 August 1997.

Saturday 22nd August 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 18:30 to 22:15 (3 hours and 45 minutes long)

Bernard Haitink conducts the Royal Opera in Verdi: Don Carlos, in this BBC Proms performance from July 1996. The cast includes Olga Borodina and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, as well as future Proms favourite Roderick Williams. Presented by Petroc Trelawny. Verdi: Don Carlos (1886 version). Roberto Scandiuzzi (King Philip II), Richard Margison (Don Carlos), Dmitri Hvorostovsky (Rodrigo), Robert Lloyd (Grand Inquisitor), Sylvie Valayre (Elisabeth de Valois), Olga Borodina (Princess Eboli), Susan Parry (Thibault), Robin Leggate (Count of Lerma), Sorin Coliban (Old Monk), Mary Plazas (Voice from Heaven), Roderick Williams (Royal Herald), Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, conductor Bernard Haitink.

Sunday 23rd August 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:00 to 00:00 (3 hours long)

Bach's St Matthew Passion.

Philippe Herreweghe's expressive but fleet-footed Bach won praise at his Proms debut in 1996. Two years later, in this highlight from the archives, he turned to one of the peaks of Bach's output - the telling of Matthew's version of the Passion with the narration of Christ's mission, his political fates, and our response in the meditative music of arias, all mingled to create one of the most original music dramas of any age. Ian Bostridge, then near the start of his career sings the role of the Evangelist. Presented by Petroc Trelawny. Bach: St Matthew Passion. Ian Bostridge (Evangelist), Sibylla Rubens (soprano), Andreas Scholl (counter-tenor), Werner Güra (tenor), Dietrich Henschel (bass), Elisabeth Hermans (soprano), Susan Hamilton (soprano), Franz-Josef Selig (bass), Frits Vanhule (bass), Dominik Wörner (bass), Schola Cantorum Cantate Domino, Chorus and Orchestra of Collegium Vocale Ghent. From the BBC Proms 1998, originally broadcast in 23 August.

Monday 24th August 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Daniel Harding and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in Beethoven 7.

Tom Service presents a concert from 200 when the distinguished Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen made its second visit to the Proms, with its then music director Daniel Harding, who was making his fifth Proms appearance at the age of just 27. A suite of dance music from Rameau's celebrated first opera and the Beethoven symphony that Wagner declared the apotheosis of dance framed Sibelius's Violin Concerto, whose final movement was once famously described as a polonaise for a polar bear. The soloist was the acclaimed Russian-born Viktoria Mullova. Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie - suite; Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor; Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A. Viktoria Mullova (violin), Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Daniel Harding (conductor).

Wednesday 26th August 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Leonard Bernstein conducts Mahler's 5th Symphony.

Ian Skelly introduces an archive 1987 Proms performance of Mahler: Symphony No 5, conducted by Leonard Bernstein, one of the two appearances Bernstein made at the Proms. Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major, K622; Symphony No 5 in C sharp minor. Peter Schmidl (clarinet), Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Leonard Bernstein.

Thursday 27th August 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Vasily Petrenko Conducts Rachmaninov and Shostakovich.

Andrew McGregor presents this September 2016 Prom from the Royal Albert Hall. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and its Russian chief conductor Vasily Petrenko perform Rachmaninov's Third Symphony and are also joined by cellist Truls Mørk to perform Shostakovich's disquieting First Cello Concerto. A piece by Liverpool-born composer Emily Howard opens the concert. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Vasily Petrenko. Emily Howard: Torus (Concerto for Orchestra). BBC co-commission with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No 1 in E flat (Truls Mørk, cello). Rachmaninov: Symphony No 3 in A minor.

Sunday 30th August 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 21:20 (1 hour and 50 minutes long)

Making his 75th appearance at the Proms, Sir Simon Rattle conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in a programme that explores the ideas of dialogue and space, including a new work by Thomas Adès, Dawn, for piano and ensemble. Elgar's Introduction and Allegro - written for an all-Elgar concert given by the LSO in 1905 - singles out a string quartet alongside the string orchestra, while the brass have a chance to shine in canzons by Giovanni Gabrieli, with the 12 players arranged around the hall in separate choirs, calling and answering each other. Alone at the piano, Dame Mitsuko Uchida performs the famous first movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, which merges into Kurtág's quasi una fantasia. Creating an extraordinary sound palette, Kurtág explores instrumental groups dispersed in space around the piano. In his Fifth Symphony, Vaughan Williams deepened the dialogue in his music between the folk and the symphonic. After hearing the work's first performance - conducted by the composer at the Proms in 1943 - Adrian Boult was prompted to write to Vaughan Williams: `Its serene loveliness is completely satisfying in these times and shows, as only music can, what we must work for when this madness is over.", an observation as relevant today as it was then. Presented by Ian Skelly, live from the Royal Albert Hall. Giovanni Gabrieli (arr. Eric Crees): Sacrae symphoniae (1597) - Canzon septimi et octavi toni a 12. Edward Elgar: Introduction and Allegro. Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata in C sharp minor, Op 27 No 2, quasi una fantasia ('Moonlight') - 1st mvt. György Kurtág: quasi una fantasia. Giovanni Gabrieli (arr. Eric Crees): Sacrae symphoniae (1597) - Canzon noni toni a 12. Thomas Adès: Dawn (BBC commission: world premiere). Vaughan Williams: Symphony No 5 in D major. Dame Mitsuko Uchida (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle (conductor).

Thursday 3rd September 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Playing Doubles: Benedetti and Ibragimova Perform Concertos for Two Violins.

The cavernous Royal Albert Hall auditorium is an ideal space to explore the clean harmonies and decorative melodies of the Baroque concerto. Period-instrument ensemble the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is joined by leading violinists Nicola Benedetti and Alina Ibragimova (the latter a former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist) to perform two-violin concertos by Vivaldi and Bach. In addition to one of only three concertos Vivaldi wrote for two oboes, we hear concerti grossi by Handel and Newcastle-born Charles Avison, responding to the Italian style made fashionable in England by Alessandro Scarlatti. Presented by Martin Handley, live from the Royal Albert Hall. Vivaldi: Concerto in D minor for two violins, RV 514. Handel: Concerto grosso in B flat, Op 3 No 2. Vivaldi: Concerto in D for two violins, RV 513. Handel: Radamisto - Passacaglia. Vivaldi: Concerto in A minor for two oboes, RV 536. Avison: Concerto grosso No 5 in D minor (after Scarlatti). JS Bach: Concerto in D minor for two violins, BWV 1043. Nicola Benedetti (violin), Alina Ibragimova (violin), Alexandra Bellamy (oboe), Katharina Spreckelsen (oboe). Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Jonathan Cohen (director/harpsichord).

Sunday 6th September 2020 (starting this afternoon)
Time: 17:30 to 18:45 (1 hour and 15 minutes long)

Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Isata Kanneh-Mason.

Star British cellist-of-the-moment Sheku-Kanneh Mason and his sister, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, perform sonatas by Beethoven, Barber and Rachmaninov. Specially recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in August and presented by Martin Handley. Beethoven: Cello Sonata in C major, Op. 102 No 1. Samuel Barber: Cello Sonata. Rachmaninov: Cello Sonata in G minor. Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano). At only 21 Sheku Kanneh-Mason is already one of the most sought-after cellists, having won BBC Young Musician in 2016 and performed two years later to a worldwide audience of over 35 million at the wedding of Prince Harry and Megan Markle. For this specially pre-recorded Proms recital he is joined by 24-year-old Isata Kanneh-Mason, the eldest of the family's seven musical siblings, who released her first solo CD last year to great acclaim. Continuing our 250th-anniversary celebrations of Beethoven's birth, his C major Cello Sonata reflects the concentration of expression and form typical of his late period. By contrast, Barber's sonata, though written in 1932, looks backwards, its drama and lyricism rooted in the Romantic era. Rachmaninov's post-Romantic sonata is a full-blooded cornerstone of the cello/piano repertoire whose macabre scherzo movement and joyously ebullient finale contrast with a slow movement of melting bittersweet indulgence.

Sunday 6th September 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 21:15 to 23:00 (1 hour and 45 minutes long)

Jessye Norman at the 2000 BBC Proms.

In 2020, BBC Radio 3 is bringing together musical greats, from the past and the present, in one extraordinary Proms season. Radio 3 is broadcasting the best of four decades of unmissable Proms concerts and tonight Andrew McGregor presents a very special concert from the 2000 Proms centred around legendary soprano Jessye Norman. Stravinsky: Concerto in E flat major, Dumbarton Oaks. Judith Weir: woman.life.song. Ravel: Introduction and Allegro. Schoenberg: 6 Brettl Lieder. Jessye Norman (soprano), Helen Tunstall (harp), Mark Markham (piano), London Sinfonietta, David Robertson (conductor).

Wednesday 9th September 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Paavo Jarvi Conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London, Benjamin Grosvenor performs Shostakovich's First Piano Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra and its Principal Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, bookended by Ravel's neo-Baroque masterpiece Le tombeau de Couperin and Mozart's titanic Symphony No 41. The sophisticated, transfigured Baroque dances of Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin offset Shostakovich's boisterous Piano Concerto No 1, with its cheeky sprinkling of quotations from Classical giants Beethoven and Haydn among others. These two works of neo-Baroque and neo-Classical influences are followed by Mozart's final symphony, the 'Jupiter', a high point of the 'true' Classical-period canon. Nicknamed posthumously for its majestic first movement and epic finale, the work is a summation of Mozart's entire symphonic output with its unique blend of grandeur and subtlety. Presented by Petroc Trelawny. Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin. Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No 1. Interval. Mozart: Symphony No 41, K551 (Jupiter). Jason Evans (trumpet), Benjamin Grosvenor (piano). Philharmonia Orchestra, conductor Paavo Jarvi.

Thursday 10th September 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 19:30 to 22:00 (2 hours and 30 minutes long)

Beethoven from Memory.

Beethoven's hearing loss plunged the composer into isolation and despair, yet he still managed to produce piece such as the Seventh symphony. Here the Aurora Orchestra plays the work from memory. The concert begins with a personal new work from Richard Ayres inspired both by Beethoven's journey into deafness and his own experience of hearing loss, a vivid soundscape in which clarity gradually gives way to confusion. Presented by Tom Service from the Royal Albert Hall, London. Aurora Orchestra, conductor Nicholas Collon. Richard Ayres: No 52: Three pieces about Ludwig van Beethoven - dreaming, hearing loss and saying goodbye (BBC co-commission - world premiere). Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No 7 in A.
(Live)

Thursday 10th September 2020 (starting this evening)
Time: 23:00 to 00:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

Bach - Goldberg Variations.

Another chance to hear András Schiff performing JS Bach's Goldberg Variations at the 2015 BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Bach: 'Goldberg' Variations, BWV988. András Schiff (piano). Grammy Award-winning pianist András Schiff is a titan of the keyboard, bringing his distinctive blend of clarity and authority to repertoire from Bach to Bartók. Here he continues his long association with Bach's music in a performance of the composer's 'Goldberg' Variations - a monumental work composed, according to its title-page, 'for the refreshment of the spirits'. The resulting Aria and variations are a compositional wonder, a sequence of musical miniatures unequalled in all Bach's output.