BBC Proms — 2008

01 BBC Proms 2008: First Night of the Proms

Jul 18, 2008

The world's greatest music festival gets under way with Charles Hazlewood and Suzy Klein presenting from the Royal Albert Hall. A host of international soloists join the BBC Symphony Orchestra and their chief conductor Jiri Belohlávek. Soprano Christine Brewer sings Strauss's Four Last Songs, pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard plays Beethoven's Rondo in B flat major, Nicholas Daniel performs Mozart's Oboe Concerto, and organist Wayne Marshall launches proceedings on the Royal Albert Hall's historic organ in Strauss's Festliches Präludium. The concert ends with Scriabin's powerful Poem of Ecstasy.

02 Proms on Four

Jul 20, 2008

Charles Hazlewood introduces a concert showcasing some of Britain's most exciting folk talent. Folk Day celebrates the diversity and influence of folk music and culminates in a Prom featuring artists who are continuing to revive and re-interpret the traditions of folk music, including 23-year-old Bella Hardy, guitarist Martin Simpson and the boisterous 11-piece big band Bellowhead, who between them won three Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2007/8.

03 Proms on Four

Jul 21, 2008

Live concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of French composer Olivier Messiaen. Featuring his Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum , plus Saint-Saens's Symphony No 3. Presented by conductor Charles Hazlewood.

04 Nigel Kennedy: Classical and Jazz

Jul 26, 2008

Violinist Nigel Kennedy makes his first appearance at the annual event in 21 years, where he plays Elgar's Violin Concerto - the work that first put him on the musical map in 1984 - as well as some of his own compositions, with some of Poland's finest jazz musicians. He also talks about his life and career as an unpredictable virtuoso, and the reasons for his move to Poland, where he now lives and works. Paul Daniel conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra. Presented by conductor Charles Hazlewood and Suzy Klein.

05 Proms on Four

Jul 27, 2008

Thierry Fischer conducts the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales and the BBC Symphony Chorus in a performance of French composer Olivier Messiaen's La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ. Presented by conductor Charles Hazlewood.

06 Proms on Four

Jul 28, 2008

Live concert featuring Beethoven's Grosse Fuge, Elliott Carter's Oboe Concerto and Beethoven's Symphony No 5 in C minor performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of David Robertson. Presented by conductor Charles Hazlewood.

07 BBC Proms 2008: Halle: 150th Anniversary

Aug 2, 2008

Highlights from a Prom given earlier in the week celebrating the Halle Orchestra's 150th anniversary, conducted by their music director Mark Elder. George Butterworth's rhapsody A Shropshire Lad is introduced by readings from AE Housman's poetry, Bruch's Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor is performed by young Dutch violinist Janine Jansen, and the programme ends with Richard Strauss's orchestral showpiece Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche. With Charles Hazlewood and Suzy Klein.

08 Proms on Four

Aug 3, 2008

Beethoven's Symphony No 1 in C major opens tonight's Prom. Then Donald Runnicles conducts vocalists Karen Cargill and Johan Botha in a performance of Mahler's symphony-with-voices, Das Lied von der Erde.

09 Proms on Four

Aug 4, 2008

Verity Sharp introduces BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music winners, including singer Mayra Andrade, Chinese sounds from Sa Ding Ding, ngoni player Bassekou Kouyate and flamenco group Son de la Frontera. Part two is next Monday.

10 BBC Proms 2008: Classical Jazz

Aug 9, 2008

Charles Hazlewood presents - and conducts - this live Prom featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra, while fellow presenter Suzy Klein is joined in the studio by choirmaster Gareth Malone. As well as Gershwin's An American in Paris and Strike Up the Band, Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto performed by clarinettist Michael Collins, and Bernstein's Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, there are three jazz-influenced world premieres: Jason Yarde's Rhythm and Other Fascinations and his arrangement of Gershwin's My Man's Gone Now, plus Gwilym Simcock's Progressions for piano and orchestra performed by the composer with Phil Donkin on double bass and Martin France on drums.

11 Proms on Four

Aug 10, 2008

Acclaimed vocal ensemble the King's Singers mark their 40th anniversary with a special performance, including renditions of traditional folk songs such as Greensleeves and Widdicombe Fair, and pieces by Poulenc and John MacCabe.

12 Proms on Four

Aug 11, 2008

Featuring the desert blues collaboration between Gambian musician Juldeh Camara and British guitarist Justin Adams. Hosted by Verity Sharp.

13 Proms on Four

Aug 14, 2008

Daniel Barenboim conducts the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra as they perform Haydn's Sinfonia Concertante for oboe, bassoon, violin and cello, Schoenberg's Variations for Orchestra and Brahms's Symphony No 4 in E minor.

14 Proms on Four

Aug 15, 2008

Two of Czech composer Janacek's greatest non-theatrical works, Sinfonietta and Glagolitic Mass, are performed by the London Symphony Chorus and the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez, with vocal soloists and organist Simon Preston. There's also a rare chance to hear Janacek's Capriccio for piano and chamber ensemble, with pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents.

15 BBC Proms 2008: Great Conductors

Aug 16, 2008

The celebrated conductors Pierre Boulez and Daniel Barenboim talk about their friendship and share their views on the art of conducting. Boulez directs the London Symphony Chorus and the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra's performance of Janacek's Sinfonietta, while Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, formed of young Israeli and Palestinian musicians, perform Brahms's Symphony No 4 in E. Presented by Clive Anderson and Suzy Klein.

16 Proms on Four

Aug 17, 2008

Soloists Rebecca Evans, Pamela Helen Stephen, Thomas Walker and Matthew Rose join the BBC Singers and the City of London Sinfonia in a live rendition of Beethoven's Mass in C, conducted by Richard Hickox. Also featured are performances of Vaughan Williams's Flos Campi, Mozart's Symphony No 34 in C, K338 and Nigel Osborne's Flute Concerto.

17 BBC Proms 2008: National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

Aug 23, 2008

Antonio Pappano conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in a trio of works from the USA. Edgard Varese's monumental Ameriques, inspired by the sounds of Manhattan's streets, is followed by Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 4 in G, played by the virtuosic Boris Berezovsky. The final work in the programme is Aaron Copland's great Symphony No 3, an evocation of North America's wide-open spaces. Presenters Charles Hazlewood and Suzy Klein examine new music initiatives and are joined by Julian Lloyd Webber.

18 Proms on Four

Aug 24, 2008

John Eliot Gardiner conducts vocal soloists including Mark Padmore (Evangelist: tenor) and Peter Harvey (Christus: baritone), the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists in a performance of Bach's celebrated St John Passion. Petroc Trelawney presents.

19 Proms on Four

Aug 25, 2008

Daniele Gatti conducts as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform excerpts from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 5 in E.

20 BBC Proms 2008: Vaughan Williams Anniversary

Aug 30, 2008

Highlights of a concert from last Tuesday commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The BBC Symphony Orchestra performs pieces including Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Serenade to Music and Symphony No 9 in E minor. Plus, conductor Sir Andrew Davis discusses Vaughan Williams's legacy and examines archive details of the composer's rehearsal for the premiere performance of Serenade to Music. Presented by Charles Hazlewood and Suzy Klein.

21 Proms on Four

Aug 31, 2008

Renowned Chinese pianist Lang Lang becomes the third performer to be offered a solo recital at the Proms, selecting a collection of his favourite compositions to play, including works by Mozart, Rachmaninov, Debussy, Chopin and Liszt. Nine-year-old American piano prodigy Marc Yu, known as "little Mozart", joins the musician for a special duet. Presented by Petroc Trelawney.

22 Proms on Four

Sep 1, 2008

Colin Davis conducts the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra. They perform Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D with violinist Nikoiaj Znaider and end with Sibelius's Symphony No 2 in D.

23 BBC Proms 2008: Beethoven Night

Sep 6, 2008

This traditional event returns with a performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D by virtuoso violinist Nikolaj Znaider, supported by the youngsters of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and conducted by Sir Colin Davis. There's also a performance of the Fifth Symphony by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Robertson, plus highlights from past Proms. Also in the show, the three finalists of the Maestro series discuss conducting the Fifth Symphony and John Suchet, a Beethoven enthusiast, talks about the composer and his work. Presented by Charles Hazlewood and Suzy Klein.

24 Proms on Four

Sep 7, 2008

Simon Rattle conducts the celebrated Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra as they perform two pieces central to their repertoire. The first. Brahms's Symphony No 3 in F, was inspired by the composer's trip to the Rhine in 1883. The second is Shostakovich's Symphony No 10 in E minor, which was written just months after the death of Stalin. Charles Hazlewood presents.

25 Proms on Four

Sep 8, 2008

Bernard Haitink conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as they perform Mark-Anthony Turnage's Chicago Remains and Mahler's Symphony No 6.

26 Last Night of the Proms

Sep 13, 2008

The climax of the classical music season at the Royal Albert Hall, where the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, under conductor Roger Norrington, perform the event's traditional finale with the help of the BBC Singers. The concert opens with a Beethoven overture, The Creatures of Prometheus, Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel sings arias by Wagner, Puccini and Verdi, and Helene Grimaud is the piano soloist in Beethoven's Fantasia in C for chorus and orchestra. Presented by Clive Anderson and Suzy Klein.

27 Last Night of the Proms

Sep 13, 2008

The annual music event that's become a national institution continues as Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel performs a medley of folk songs from the nations. There's also the premiere of a piece by Anna Meredith, before the evening builds to its traditional climax with Jerusalem, Rule, Britannia! and Pomp and Circumstance.

28 Doctor Who at the Proms

Jan 1, 2009

Freema Agyeman hosts a musical odyssey as the BBC Philharmonic and London Philharmonic Chorus play music from Doctor Who. Including 3 specially filmed scene starring David Tennant.

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