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Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms 2007

Themes: Shakespeare and Music

Shakespeare has inspired countless composers for centuries and this season's Proms presents music by more than 25 of them. From large-scale works such as Verdi's Macbeth and Sibelius's complete incidental music for The Tempest, to rarer and more intimate song settings by Maconchy and Arne, and from the most famous orchestral works by Tchaikovsky, Berlioz and Mendelssohn to contemporary works by Oliver Knussen and Thomas Adès, the season brings together many examples of the masterpieces sparked into existence by literature's greatest name.

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Highlights

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• The first Proms Saturday Matinee concert devoted to Shakespeare settings (14 July).

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• Fiftieth anniversary of Bernstein's West Side Story marked with excerpts in three concerts (21 and 22 July, and 19 August).

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• Verdi's Macbeth from Glyndebourne (24 July).

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• Screening of classic 1969 King Lear by legendary Russian director Grigori Kozintsev introduced by Samuel West (29 July).

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• Shakespeare and All That Jazz from John Dankworth and Cleo Laine in an evening celebrating these legends of jazz (8 August).

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• Osmo Vänskä and his orchestra from Lahti bring Sibelius's complete incidental music to The Tempest with an all-Finnish cast (15 August).

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• Two great English tenors – Philip Langridge (13 August) and Mark Padmore (18 August) – sing Shakespeare settings.

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• A rare opportunity to hear Shakespeare-inspired works from the 18th century by Thomas Arne and Thomas Linley, Jr (18 August).

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• Many of the most famous Shakespeare-inspired works, including Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream (14 July) and both Berlioz's (30 July) and Tchaikovsky's (28 August) Romeo and Juliet.

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Listings

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Saturday 14 July, 3.00pm Cadogan Hall (PSM 1) Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream – excerpts; Korngold: Much Ado About Nothing – Suite; Stravinsky:Three Songs from William Shakespeare; Bridge:There is a willow grows aslant a brook; Shostakovich: Hamlet – Suite from the incidental music.
Anna Dennis (mezzo-soprano); speakers to be announced; Britten Sinfonia/Alexander Shelley

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Saturday 21 July & Sunday 22 July, 11.00am
(Proms 10 & 12 – Blue Peter Proms)
Bernstein:West Side Story – Mambo Â鶹ԼÅÄ Philharmonic/Tecwyn Evans

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Tuesday 24 July, 7.00pm (Prom 15)
Verdi: Macbeth
Sylvie Valayre (Lady Macbeth); Andrzej Dobber (Macbeth); Stanislav Shvets (Banquo); Peter Auty (Macduff); Bryan Griffin (Malcolm); Richard Mosley-Evans (Doctor/Servant/Herald); Svetlana Sozdateleva (Lady-in-waiting); Douglas Rice-Bowen (Assassin); Julie Pasturaud (A Lady); Glyndebourne Chorus; London Philharmonic Orchestra/ Vladimir Jurowski

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Friday 27 July, 7.30pm (Prom 19)
R. Strauss: Macbeth
Hallé/Mark Elder

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Saturday 28 July, 2.00pm (Prom 20 – Brass Day)
Vaughan Williams: Overture 'Henry V'
Grimethorpe Colliery Band/Allan Withington

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Sunday 29 July, 6.30pm (Prom 22)
Fauré: Shylock
Les Musiciens du Louvre, Grenoble/Marc Minkowski

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Sunday 29 July, 2.00pm
Royal Geographical Society (Proms Film)
King Lear, dir. Grigori Kozintsev (1969)
Introduced by Samuel West

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Monday 30 July, 1.00pm Cadogan Hall (PCM 3)
Vaughan Williams: Willow Song; O Mistress Mine; Come Away, Death
Polyphony/Stephen Layton

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Monday 30 July, 7.30pm (Prom 23)
Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet – excerpts
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Symphony Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen

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Sunday 5 August, 4.00pm (Prom 30)
Brahms: Four Songs, Op. 17 – 'Come Away, Death'
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Symphony Chorus (women's voices)/Stephen Jackson

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Wednesday 8 August, 7.30pm (Prom 35)
From Bards to Blues
Dankworth: Shakespeare and All That Jazz – excerpts; Ellington: Such Sweet Thunder
Dame Cleo Laine (singer); Soweto Kinch,Tommy Smith (saxophones); Guy Barker (trumpet); John Dankworth Quintet; Â鶹ԼÅÄ Big Band; Â鶹ԼÅÄ Concert Orchestra/John Dankworth (musical director)

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Monday 13 August, 1.00pm Cadogan Hall (PCM 5)
Maconchy: Four Shakespeare Songs
Philip Langridge (tenor); David Owen Norris (piano)

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Monday 13 August, 7.30pm (Prom 40)
Weber: Oberon – Overture
Frankfurt Radio Symphony/Paavo Järvi

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Wednesday 15 August, 7.30pm (Prom 42)
Sibelius:The Tempest – complete incidental music
(sung in Finnish)
Helena Juntunen (soprano); Lilli Paasikivi (mezzo-soprano); Juha Hostikka, Petri Lehto (tenors); Ville Rusanen (baritone); Dominante; Lahti Symphony Orchestra/Osmo Vänskä

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Saturday 18 August, 3.00pm Cadogan Hall (PSM 3)
Arne:Two Shakespeare Songs;Thomas Linley, Jr: Ode on the Spirits of Shakespeare – Overture
Mark Padmore (tenor); The English Concert/Laurence Cummings

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Sunday 19 August, 6.30pm (Prom 48)
Bernstein:West Side Story – Symphonic Dances
Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela/ Gustavo Dudamel

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Tuesday 28 August, 7.30pm (Prom 59) Tchaikovsky: Fantasy Overtures 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Hamlet'
London Symphony Orchestra/Valery Gergiev

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Wednesday 29 August, 10.00pm (Prom 61)
Oliver Knussen: Ophelia Dances
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group/Oliver Knussen

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Wednesday 5 September, 7.30pm (Prom 69)
Beethoven: Overture 'Coriolan'
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Riccardo Chailly

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Saturday 8 September, 7.30pm
(Prom 72 – Last Night Of The Proms)
Dvořák: Overture 'Othello';Thomas Adès:The Storm (opening scene of 'The Tempest')
Â鶹ԼÅÄ Symphony Orchestra/Jiří BÄ›lohlávek

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