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Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms 2007

Overview

The great tradition of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms, one of the world’s great music festivals, presents a celebratory season that looks to the future and marks the 80th anniversary of the partnership between the Proms and the Â鶹ԼÅÄ.

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In 2007, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ marks 80 years of running the Proms by revisiting some of the great works introduced to London, the UK or the world by the Proms since the 1927 season, in a shared vision of making the best of great music available to all.

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Celebrating the past, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms looks to creating the music and performers of the future through concerts and broadcasting.

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In 2007 there are many new works (including 12 Â鶹ԼÅÄ commissions), unparalleled opportunities for talented young performers as well as more ways than ever for a new generation to get involved.

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In just two months the season spans eight centuries of music in 90 concerts. From the 13th-century Icelandic sagas that inspired Wagner, to the rediscovery of a lost Renaissance Mass, through the Baroque genius of Handel, Bach and Rameau, to the great orchestral repertory from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries (including new commissions), the music is performed by leading artists from across the globe.

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Celebrating the past: Proms firsts

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Marking the 80th anniversary of the unique partnership established between the Â鶹ԼÅÄ and the Proms in 1927, Proms Firsts revisit some of the works introduced to London, the UK or the world at the Proms.

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It takes in classics by Ravel, Shostakovich, Walton, Britten, Mahler and Ives and reaches to some of the lasting successes of recent years by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Henri Dutilleux, HK Gruber, Oliver Knussen, James MacMillan and Judith Weir.

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The Â鶹ԼÅÄ's symphony orchestras all have a major role in this retrospective, as do some of the great visiting orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim.

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Words and music

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Shakespeare and Music is one of the season's main themes, bringing Shakespeare-inspired music by more than 25 composers to 20 Proms events.

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From 18th-century pieces by Arne and Linley, through 19th-century masterpieces by Berlioz, Mendelssohn and Verdi (including Macbeth from Glyndebourne), the Shakespeare theme reaches the 20th century and the present, in works by Bernstein (West Side Story, based on Romeo and Juliet, is 50 this year, with excerpts in two Proms), John Dankworth, Oliver Knussen and Sibelius (including the complete incidental music to The Tempest).

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WH Auden (born 100 years ago) and Blake (born 250 years ago) are also celebrated with music by Britten, Sir John Tavener and Bernstein.

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Remarkable events

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Wagner's Götterdämmerung receives its first complete Proms performance, bringing the Proms four-year Ring cycle to its end.

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Maxim Vengerov combines tango-dancing with the viola and electric violin in a unique new concerto, while Nitin Sawhney fuses the music of Asia and Europe for the 21st century.

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Michael Ball brings the West End to the Royal Albert Hall, while Cleo Laine and John Dankworth celebrate their 80th birthdays in style.

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There is the first modern performance of a rediscovered Renaissance Mass in 40 and 60 parts by Alessandro Striggio and Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, having missed its annual appearance last season following a fire at the Royal Albert Hall, is heard on the opening night of the Proms for the first time, and then again near the end of the season with Mariss Jansons and his Bavarian forces.

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Brass Day promises to be loud, memorable and a major highlight of the season.

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Great maestros bring top visitors

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Claudio Abbado brings the Lucerne Festival Orchestra for its Proms debut and Daniel Barenboim and Riccardo Chailly conduct the Vienna Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras in their first partnerships at the Proms.

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Sir Roger Norrington conducts the historic Handel and Haydn Society of Boston in its Proms debut. James Levine makes his first Proms appearance as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and there are appearances too from Mariss Jansons and Michael Tilson Thomas with their orchestras, the Bavarian Radio and San Francisco symphony orchestras.

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Extraordinary collaborations

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The London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France come together on stage to celebrate the conductor most strongly associated with each, Kurt Masur, who conducts this special concert for his 80th birthday.

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Another two-orchestra collaboration has period players from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performing with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in music by Handel, Telemann and Purcell. Sir John Eliot Gardiner brings his period instrument forces together with the Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble, Dance for All, and Parisian dance Compagnie Roussat-Lubek for an extraordinary performance of Rameau.

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Nitin Sawhney invites dancer/choreographers Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to take part in his broad-ranging Prom, while Maxim Vengerov dances with Brazilian tango queen Christiane Palha in the UK premiere of Benjamin Yusupov’s Viola Tango Rock Concerto.

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Anniversaries

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The Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms celebrates Elgar in the 150th anniversary of his birth with a star-studded performance of The Apostles, a First Night Cello Concerto from Paul Watkins, Proms Chamber Music concerts and a weekend which includes his Serenade for Strings, choral and organ works and his much-loved Enigma Variations. Sibelius died 50 years ago and is remembered across six events including a performance of his complete incidental music to The Tempest and three of his best-loved symphonies.

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The centenary of Grieg’s death is marked by the orchestra from his home town, the Bergen Philharmonic, plus performances of his lyrical Holberg Suite and choral Psalms. Other anniversaries noted include Elizabeth Maconchy (born 1907), Buxtehude (died 1707), Domenico Scarlatti (died 1757), and Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Eric Coates, both of whom died in 1957.

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Exciting new work

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The Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms continues to look to the future with 12 works commissioned or co-commissioned by the Â鶹ԼÅÄ from such diverse voices as John Adams, Richard Rodney Bennett, Judith Bingham, Thea Musgrave, Rachel Portman, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Judith Weir, as well as Â鶹ԼÅÄ commissions for Brett Dean, Sam Hayden, Aaron Jay Kernis, Guto Puw and Peter Wiegold.

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There are other major premieres from Thomas Adès, Elliott Carter, John Dankworth, Hans Werner Henze, David Matthews and Benjamin Yusupov.

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Artists of the future

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A nationwide talent search in collaboration with Â鶹ԼÅÄ New Talent finds children for Rachel Portman's new music drama, while Manchester-based brass students play alongside members of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic on Brass Day.

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The Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela makes its Proms debut under 26-year-old conductor Gustavo Dudamel, as do the Buskaid Soweto String Ensemble under Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

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Mark Elder conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and Sir Colin Davis brings the European Union Youth Orchestra for Proms televised on Â鶹ԼÅÄ Two.

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Gondwana Voices from Australia, the National Youth Choir of Wales, and a 250-strong youth choir drawn from around the South of England are just some of the young voices to be heard in main Proms concerts in 2007.

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Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3 New Generation artists are prominent: Alexei Ogrintchouk makes his Proms debut with Richard Strauss's Oboe Concerto and Andrew Kennedy sings twice, including at the Last Night Of The Proms.

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Great events for families

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The Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms has commissioned Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman and poet/novelist Owen Sheers to write a dramatic musical piece for people of all ages, while the ever-popular Blue Peter Proms present Bollywood Brass, Honey Kalaria and Honey’s Dance Academy, alongside the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic and favourite children’s presenters Peter Duncan, Dave Benson Phillips and Gemma Hunt.

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Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms Out+About goes to Brighton for the first time for a two-week residency before two concerts at the Brighton Dome aimed at children and their families on 13 June.

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Join in!

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Participation is the key to involving the next generation and there are more opportunities than ever to join in. A new initiative for 2007 is the Proms Family Orchestra, which invites family members – whether mums, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles or grandparents – to sit alongside each other and make music regardless of instrument, age or ability.

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Â鶹ԼÅÄ Music Intro, which offers families £5 seats and insightful, participatory pre-concert workshops, continues with five events across the season; and the first Brass Massive, which launches Brass Day, invites brass players of all ages and abilities to join a two-hour session and then play a world premiere on the steps of the Royal Albert Hall.

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Important conductor debuts

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Semyon Bychkov, Edward Gardner, Susanna Mälkki and America's Robert Spano are among the conductors making their Proms debuts in 2007, while soloists Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Håkan Hardenberger conduct at the Proms for the first time.

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Brass massive

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The first-ever Brass Day brings together 200 brass players in a day which explores brass in all its diversity.

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From traditional northern brass bands to ancient Uzbek trumpets, from sagbutts and cornetts to the Fanfare Trumpets of the Band of the Coldstream Guards and from star soloists such as HÃ¥kan Hardenberger and David Pyatt, to the youngest enthusiast who has had a few lessons, the day promises to be the loudest and most memorable of the season.

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At its heart is an ambitious collaboration between the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms with Manchester-based forces – including the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic, the Royal Northern College of Music and Salford University – and players from London and the South East of England.

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Film crazy

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In a bumper year for film at the Proms, in addition to a concert devoted to the music of Great British films in the year of BAFTA's 60th anniversary, there are screenings at the Royal Geographical Society of The Bridge On The River Kwai, Les choristes, King Lear, Christopher Nupen's two Sibelius films, and a documentary about the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela.

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The San Francisco Symphony’s Keeping Score: Copland and the American Sound is screened at Cadogan Hall – as is Night Mail (a WH Auden/Benjamin Britten collaboration), in a Proms Saturday Matinee concert.

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The last night

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Jiří BÄ›lohlávek conducts the Last Night for the first time and festivities spill out of the Royal Albert Hall into two new venues for Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms in the Park.

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Teeside and Carrickfergus Castle join the famous celebrations at Hyde Park, Swansea and Glasgow and Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms in the Park welcomes a new three-year sponsorship deal with NS&I.

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On air and in tune

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For the first time concerts from every week of the Proms are relayed by Â鶹ԼÅÄ Television with first regular weekly broadcasts on Â鶹ԼÅÄ Four in addition to extensive television coverage of the season across Â鶹ԼÅÄ One and Â鶹ԼÅÄ Two.

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Â鶹ԼÅÄ One broadcasts themed concerts for the first time. All Proms are live on Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3 (except the first Blue Peter Prom: the second is broadcast live) and available online with on-demand listening over seven days.

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