London to host largest classical music festival

For two months every year, the city of London plays host to some of the greatest artists, composers, orchestras and ensembles in the world’s largest and longest-running classical music festival.

Currently in its 120th season, the BBC Proms this year offers a feast of performances at 92 lavishly cast concerts around the UK in what is billed as the biggest ever celebration of global classical music.

This tradition of the British summer consists of daily orchestral music concerts, including newly commissioned works, mainly held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

A century after the outbreak of the First World War, this year the Proms reflects on the music, musicians and the legacy of the Great War. The programme features works by composers who lost their lives in the trenches such as George Butterworth, the English composer who was killed while fighting in the war.

To coincide with the day Britain entered the war on Monday this week, a special Late Night Prom took place featuring the second of two world premiers by the famed British composer, the late John Tavener.

GRANDSON OF ICONIC COMPOSER

The grandson of the iconic 20th century Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, Gabriel Prokofiev, with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra presented the world premiere of his new violin concerto at the Proms in a piece subtitled “1914”, the year the war broke out.

The War Horse Prom features life-size puppets from the internationally-acclaimed London stage production, alongside music performed by the Proms Military Wives Choir and the premiere of “The New War Hymn” written by Sir Henry Wood, founder of the Proms, in response to the outbreak of the War.

There is also music composed years after, including Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem”, based on the poetry of Wilfred Owen, and Sally Beamish’s violin concerto inspired by the novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque.

As a celebration of 150 years since the birth of the composer Richard Strauss, the Proms feature three of his complete operas and a host of instrumental and choral works.

Glyndebourne Festival Opera performs the Strauss opera “Der Rosenkavalier” (The Knight of the Rose) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra performance of “Elektra” will take place during the last weekend of August.

For the first time in a single season, both J.S Bach’s “St John” and “St Matthew Passion”, the musical account of the story of Christ’s arrest, trial and crucifixion, are being performed at the Proms.

James Gilchrist, internationally-renowned for his interpretation of the Evangelist in the St John Passion will perform the role with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra. The Berlin Philharmonic stage St Matthew Passion on September 6, in what is tipped as one of the highlights of the Proms.

This year, the proms feature no less than 32 premieres including music by Simon Holt and the aforementioned World War commemoration by Gabriel Prokofiev.

The other specially commissioned works include works by Helen Grime and Jorg Widmann with two pieces by the Cleveland Orchestra on 7 and 8 September. Concert goers will also be looking forward to Benedict Mason’s “Meld” on 16 August.

Another feature this year is globalisation of classical music with the festival attracting more visiting orchestras than ever before. Ten international ensembles from around the world appear for the first time including orchestras from China, Greece, Iceland, Finland, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea and Turkey.

World famous orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra are also part of the programme.

The Melbourne Orchestra makes its debut on 19 August in a performance of passion and despair, love and death called “Symphonie fantastique.” Composer Berlioz’s work is regarded as perhaps the most powerful artistic expression of unrequited love inspired by the woman who would eventually become his wife. That concert will also feature the orchestra playing “Don Juan” by Strauss and Elgar’s last major work, the “Cello Concerto.”

The Proms end on September 13th with the traditional open-air concert on the last night at London’s Hyde Park with a line-up that reflects both classical and popular music.

A host of performers including the BBC Concert Orchestra, the highly acclaimed South African-born soprano Pumeza Matshikiza and legendary American soul band Earth Wind and Fire will be joining the party to see out this year’s Proms.

Tickets for the various concerts on average cost £40 (Sh5,900) online through the website of the Royal Albert Hall.

Many people also choose the cheaper way of attending the performances through the popular “promming” tickets, which allow concert-goes to attend in the standing area of the gallery, at just £5 (Sh750).

This article was first published in the Business Daily