Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Proms 2023: The Best Bits
It’s been yet another glorious summer of music at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Proms: over 90 captivating concerts at both the Royal Albert Hall and across the UK, plus weekend-long celebrations in Gateshead, Bristol and Nottingham. (You can relive the season on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds right now!)
But before we settle into the autumn months, dig out our woolly hats and wait in earnest for the 2025 Prom season announcement, here’s a quick reminder of the very best bits from the past two months.
Something Unholy
For their only UK appearance of 2024, this Proms season Sam Smith joined the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Concert Orchestra to celebrate 10 years since the release of their seminal debut solo album In the Lonely Hour.
The Prom showcased Smith’s remarkable voice as well as a frankly stunning set of bespoke outfits from Vivienne Westwood: starting in a black, polka dot double-breasted suit, they later slipped into a vast red ballgown complete with gloves, sash and train,
Rich in orchestral flavour and backlit with a devil-red hue, ‘Unholy’ – one of the singles from their 2023 album Gloria – proved a major highlight. We dare you not to sing along.
Schubert from a Classical Supergroup
Together, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos form something of a classical supergroup, with each player a hugely respected soloist in their own right.
This season the trio brought a stunning chamber-music performance to the Proms, presenting much-loved works by Brahms and Beethoven to a packed Royal Albert Hall.
The first of two encores, this rendition of the second movement from Schubert's Piano Trio No. 1 – a tender and highly emotive work – was not lacking in tear-jerking moments.
The Proms Does Disco
Chic, Gloria Gaynor, Diana Ross, Boney M., Walter Murphy: these were just some of the icons celebrated at the Proms this season when the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Concert Orchestra lent its power and exuberance to an evening of disco classics.
Leading the vocal charge was Vula Malinga, who channelled all the glitz, glamour and groove of disco in this mashup of Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ and ‘Never Can Say Goodbye’.
Listen to that bopping bass and infectious, four-to-the-floor drumming. It is, quite simply, impossible not to dance.
Barber’s Adagio for Strings
Speaking of supergroups, the Sinfonia of London – comprising star soloists and leaders and principals from various other orchestras – made a welcome return to the Proms this season, having made their live performing debut at the festival in 2021.
Led by John Wilson, the orchestra performed a selection of iconic American works, including John Adam's Harmonielehre and George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Most famous of all the pieces they performed, though, is surely Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, the go-to soundtrack for American national mourning. Grab your tissues!
Ode to Joy … from Memory
Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra have made their annual from-memory Proms performance an unmissable event. And this year certainly didn’t disappoint.
Marking the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s monumental final symphony, the Ninth, they delivered a stunning perfomance of this A-grade masterpiece. And, as per tradition, they did so without any sheet music and – minus the cellos and basses – without any chairs!
Soak up the final movement of the symphony, with its famous ‘Ode to Joy’ – a jubilant hymn to humanity and all-round good vibes.
Watch the full concert on iPlayer.
You can also watch a fully signed version of the concert on iPlayer.
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
A rollicking tune, split between two timpanists filling in each other’s notes like village bellringers. It’s just one of many genius moments in Gustav Holst’s famous orchestral suite, The Planets.
It comes in the fourth movement of the suite, ‘Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity’, which – in the words of Holst’s own astrological chart – represents ‘abundance of life and vitality’.
Given by student musicians from Helsinki and London, this year’s Proms performance of The Planets exemplified that special blend of excitement, mystery and sheer terror that makes it such an enormously popular piece, 106 years after it was first performed.
Moon River … from a Mancini
Henry Mancini was more than one of the greatest composers in the history of film music. He was also one of the most versatile musicians of his or any time.
Marking a century since Mancini’s birth, this year Edwin Outwater and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Concert Orchestra presented a Prom stuffed with classic pieces, such as the slinky ‘Lujon’ and themes from The Pink Panther and Peter Gunn, brilliantly hosted by a pineapple-cocktail-sipping Mel Giedroyc.
And, as an extra-special treat, Mancini’s daughter Monica gave an extraordinary rendition of ‘Moon River’, made famous by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Felix Klieser’s spectacular Proms debut
For Prom 24 the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra were joined by its long-standing Chief Conductor Kirill Karabits and its Artist-in-Residence Felix Klieser, making his Proms debut. Together they gave a gorgeous account of Mozart’s Fourth Horn Concerto.
Klieser, who was born without arms, plays the horn with his feet. He’s used his sizeable presence on social media to give encouragement and advice on overcoming obstacles, as he did to get to this point in his career.
‘It’s crucial that you believe in yourself,’ he said before the concert. ‘I want to use these experiences from my own life to give other people motivation: they can maybe do much more than they think they can, if they believe in themselves.’
What an inspiration you are, Felix.
You can watch Felix's debut at the Proms on iPlayer.
Isata Kanneh-Mason conquers Prokofiev
The Third is the best-known of Prokofiev’s five piano concertos. It was written partly as a calling card for the Russian composer’s burgeoning pianistic career and, as such, contains all the dazzling fireworks and agility that we have come to associate with his music (he was once described as having ‘steel fingers’).
No worries for pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, though, who gave an ‘assured, exhilarating performance’ (The Observer) for her Proms solo debut, garnering a standing ovation at the work’s close.
And, in case you hadn’t got your fill of Kanneh-Mason magic, Isata’s brother, cellist Sheku is one of the soloists at the Last Night of the Proms!
Watch Isata’s performance with the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ National Orchestra of Wales on iPlayer.
Anna Lapwood: queen of the night
Something of a Ba-roque star, Anna Lapwood has brought the organ into the limelight with her irresistible performances and infectious personality.
This season she gave a late-night recital inspired by the star-strewn Zambian night sky. Works ranged from Florence Price’s radiant Retrospection and Philip Glass’s glinting Mad Rush to the world premiere of Olivia Belli’s Limina Luminis – all bejeweled with the twinkling lights of a giant disco ball.
What’s the collective noun for a group of Anna Lapwood fans? We haven't decided yet, but you can listen to them scream on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds …
