The full details of this year's programme are available in the BBC Proms 2025 Official Guide, which went on sale this morning.
Friday 18th July, 7pm - First Night of the Proms
Bliss: Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood, Mendelssohn: 'Hebrides' Overture, Sibelius: Violin Concerto, Wallen: The Elements (world premiere), Vaughan Williams Sancta civitas (Lisa Batiashvili, Caspar Singh, Gerald Finley, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Singers, Sakari Oramo)
Tchaikovsky & Sibelius Violin Concertos
Lisa Batiashvili (violin), Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim
'Everything feels ‘in the moment’, a quality of improvisation like music created in the playing of it. Her musicality always comes with an element of surprise...This is concerto-playing of the very highest order...Every familiar phrase somehow manages to sound both authoritative and newly discovered...a delight from start to finish.' (Gramophone)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Errollyn Wallen: Orchestral Works
Idunnu Munch (mezzo), Ruby Hughes (soprano), Miwa Rosso (cello) BBC Concert Orchestra, John Andrews
'The pieces date from 2000 to 2023; all share a strong sense of momentum in these performances by the BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor John Andrews…By Gis and by St Charity is a short and effective setting of Shakespeare, compellingly delivered by Ruby Hughes, with the orchestral players’ chants of “shame!” drawing us into Ophelia’s claustrophobic inner world.' (The Guardian)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Monday 21st July, 7.30pm - Tom Coult's Monologues for the Curious (world premiere)
Allan Clayton, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Tom Coult: Pieces That Disappear
Anna Dennis (soprano), Daniel Pioro (violin), Elena Schwarz, BBC Philharmonic, Martyn Brabbins, Andrew Gourlay
'Coult’s distinctive voice comes through vividly on this celebration of his time at the BBC Philharmonic…[Beautiful Caged Things] demonstrates Coult’s ability to write music that’s texturally rich yet strikingly translucent...These aren’t pieces that disappear, not at all.' (The Guardian)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Tuesday 22nd July, 7.30pm - Mark Simpson's ZEBRA (or, 2-3-74: The Divine Invasion of Philip K. Dick) - world premiere
Sean Shibe, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Anja Bihlmaier
Simpson: Geysir and Mozart: Gran Partita
Mark Simpson, Fraser Langton (clarinet), Nicholas Daniel, Emma Fielding (oboe), Amy Harman, Dom Tyler (bassoon), Oliver Pashley, Ausias Garrigos Morant (basset horns), Ben Goldscheider, Angela Barnes, James Pillai, Fabian van de Geest (horn), David Stark (double bass)
'A tour de force of wind colour and carefully controlled tension that makes an immediate impact and reveals more and more on repeated hearings...His elite players do him proud, in a performance of risk-taking virtuosity.' (Gramophone)
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
softLOUD: Music for Acoustic & Electric Guitars
Sean Shibe (guitar)
'It’s absolutely riveting. It’s the most eloquent musical scream on record. In terms of an artistic manifesto, it asks more questions than it provides answers. But I’d be willing to wager that each time you get to the end, you’ll have turned it up to eleven.' (Scottish Review of Books)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Friday 1st August, 7.30pm - Yunchan Lim plays Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 4 (Yunchan Lim, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Kazuki Yamada)
Chopin: Études
Yunchan Lim (piano)
'His Chopin is as flexible and feather-light as it is fluent and fiery, as compelling in its sense of structure as in its relishing of detail. The whole experience radiates joyful, youthful exuberance.' (Gramophone)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3
Yunchan Lim (piano), Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Wednesday 6th August, 7.30pm - Beethoven and Bartók from Budapest
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 and Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Dorottya Láng, Krisztián Cser, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
'The performance of the Seventh ranks, without question, among the greatest ever recorded. With the Budapest Festival Orchestra playing as if their lives depended on it, it's superbly articulated, thrillingly elated and emotionally exhausting.' (The Guardian)
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Friday 8th August, 11pm - 7am - From Dark Till Dawn
Anna Lapwood (organ), Barokksolistene, Bjarte Eike, Pembroke College Chapel Choir, Anastasia Kobekina (cello), Hayato Sumino (piano)
Midnight Sessions at the Royal Albert Hall
Anna Lapwood (organ)
Transcriptions of music from Hans Zimmer's scores for The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean and Interstellar and John Powell's How To Train Your Dragon.
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
The Alehouse Sessions
Barokksolistene, Bjarte Eike
'Eike is a charismatic artist with a talent for conceiving imaginative live and recording projects … Innately theatrical, genre bending and suffused with great musicianship and string playing, this is a substantial and fine piece of work.' (The Strad)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Thursday 14th August, 7.30pm - Joe Hisaishi and Steve Reich
Joe Hisaishi: The End of the World and Steve Reich: The Desert Music (John Holiday, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Singers, National Youth Voices, Philharmonia Chorus, Joe Hisaishi)
New Japan Philharmonic World Dream Orchestra, Joe Hisaishi
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Joe Hisaishi: A Symphonic Celebration
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Joe Hisaishi
'These fantasy films have built up a huge fanbase worldwide with their music drawn from the Western tradition. Hisaishi’s music reflects the wit, playfulness and charm in which Howl’s Moving Castle stands proud...Happy anniversary to Studio Ghibli!' (Gramophone)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Reich: The Desert Music and Three Movements
Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich, Chorus sine nomine, Kristjan Järvi
'Even Reich agnostics will find these two “symphonic” pieces hard to resist. Written more than a quarter of a century ago, they find him in his most easily communicative vein...Swinging performances from the Tonkünstler Orchestra and Chorus sine nomine under Järvi.' (Financial Times)
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Friday 15th August, 7.30pm - Benjamin Grosvenor plays Ravel
Piano Concerto in G (Benjamin Grosvenor, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ryan Bancroft)
Benjamin Grosvenor plays Rhapsody in Blue (plus concertos by Ravel and Saint-Saëns)
Benjamin Grosvenor (piano), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, James Judd
'His playing belies his youth; this is deliciously individual, mature pianism. The sound is warm, the style impulsive, affectionate. He’s not striving for technical perfection (though you won’t find any fluffs here), more content to draw the listener in and spin a good yarn.' (The Arts Desk)
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Monday 18th August, 7.30pm - Sir Mark Elder conducts Delius's A Mass of Life
Jennifer Davis (soprano), Claudia Huckle (mezzo), David Butt Philip (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone); BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, London Philharmonic Chorus, Sir Mark Elder
Delius: A Mass of Life
Gemma Summerfield (soprano), Claudia Huckle (contralto), Bror Magnus Tødenes (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone); Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edvard Grieg Kor, Collegium Musicum Choir, Sir Mark Elder
'Elder steers a commendably purposeful course through Delius’s giant canvas, elucidating both its frequently dense textures and its adventurous chromatic harmonies with penetrating skill.' (Gramophone)
Available formats: 2 CDs, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Tuesday 19th August, 7.30pm - Pappano conducts Puccini and Strauss
Strauss: Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten and Puccini: Suor Angelica
Carolina López Moreno (Suor Angelica), Kseniia Nikolaieva (La zia principessa), Elena Zilio (La suora Zelatrice), Sarah Dufresne (Suor Genovieffa); London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Tiffin Choir, Sir Antonio Pappano
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben & Burleske
Bertrand Chamayou (piano), Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano
'Pappano’s bel canto approach to Strauss’s mock-epic hero cultivates beauty of sound even in usually bombastically noisy stretches such as the central battle. There is gravitas in the breadth of this performance, yet it also has operatic exuberance in spades.' (BBC Music Magazine)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Puccini: Il Trittico
Cristina Gallardo-Domás (Suor Angelica), Bernadette Manca Di Nissa (La zia principessa), Elena Zilio (La suora Zelatrice), Dorothea Röschmann (Suor Genovieffa); Philharmonia Orchestra, London Voices, Tiffin Choir, Antonio Pappano
'Thanks to Pappano and fine playing from both the LSO [in Il tabarro and Gianni Schicchi] and the Philharmonia, the beauty and originality of the carefully textured instrumentation can be appreciated with new vividness. This is a set to renew your appreciation of operas that represent Puccini still at his peak.'
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Il bel sogno
Carolina López Moreno (soprano), Doriana Tchakarova (piano)
Arias from Turandot, La rondine, Roméo et Juliette, La traviata, Idomeneo, The Merry Widow, Peter Grimes, and Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire.
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 16 bit)
Wednesday 20th August, 7.30pm - Bruce Liu plays Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Bruce Liu, Philharmonia Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali)
Tchaikovsky: The Seasons
Bruce Liu (piano)
'This release will delight Tchaikovsky aficionados, offering a healthy, highly expressive and, above all, pleasurable approach to the piano on the most basic level. It demonstrates fresh music-making unadorned by superficial virtuosity or the encrustations of received wisdom.' (Gramophone)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Friday 22nd August, 7.30pm - Joshua Bell plays Hartmann
Hartmann: Violin Concerto (Joshua Bell, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska)
Thomas de Hartmann Rediscovered
Joshua Bell (violin), Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska, Matt Haimovitz Mdr-Rundfunkorchester, Dennis Russell Davies
'Hartmann’s fundamentally tonal language in the Violin Concerto] contrasts, and sometimes intertwines, passages of lush romanticism with more dancing, folklike material – think Barber’s Concerto, and you won’t be far off…Bell and the the orchestra give a totally engaged performance.' (BBC Music Magazine)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
Sunday 24th August, 2pm - Mäkelä conducts Mozart, Prokofiev and Bartók
Mozart: Symphony No. 31 'Paris', Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1, Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra (Janine Jansen, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Klaus Mäkelä)
Sibelius & Prokofiev: Violin Concertos
Janine Jansen (violin), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Mäkelä
'Jansen’s first concerto recording in nine years is worth the wait, not least thanks to her obvious rapport with the conductor Klaus Mäkelä and his Oslo Philharmonic.' (The Guardian)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Friday 5th September, 7.30pm - Rattle conducts Chineke!
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: The Bamboula, George Walker: Sinfonia No. 5 'Visions', Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 (Chineke! Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle)
Coleridge-Taylor
Elena Urioste (violin), Chineke! Orchestra, Fawzi Haimor, Roderick Cox, Kalena Bovell, Kevin John Edusei, Anthony Parnther
'Well-made and generous music, then, played with purpose and spirit by an ensemble where the sense of shared enjoyment (from both the perspective of discovery and appreciation) is palpable.' (Gramophone)
Available format: Download & Streaming (up to 48 kHz, 24 bit)
George Walker: Five Sinfonias
National Symphony Orchestra - The Kennedy Center, Gianandrea Noseda
'The National Symphony Orchestra’s compelling recordings, which followed performances organized around Walker’s centennial in 2022, should widen the awareness that this composer is a major American voice...Walker’s syntax is pointed, with a propensity for angular melodies, blocks of dissonance and shifting moods.' (The New York Times)
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit)
Saturday 6th September, 7.30pm - Golda Schultz sings Gershwin and Bernstein
Schreker: Chamber Symphony, Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite (1945 version), songs and arias from West Side Story, Porgy and Bess, Die tote Stadt and The Rake's Progress (Golda Schultz, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Robin Ticciati)
Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!
Golda Schultz (soprano), Antonello Manacorda, Kammerakademie Potsdam, with Julie Roset, Amitai Pati, Ashley Dixon Santelli, Milan Siljanov, Simone Easthope
'Spirited, thoughtful performances...More than a nice set of highlights, this album makes you think.' (The Guardian)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Friday 12th September, 7.30pm - John Wilson conducts Bernstein and Ravel
Bernstein: Serenade and Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé (James Ehnes, Sinfonia of London, John Wilson)
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé
Sinfonia of London, John Wilson
'Other recordings of Daphnis et Chloé may offer bolder colours, a more obviously upfront panache, but the delicacy and detail of this performance put it in the top class, and the Sinfonia of London can stand comparison with the top international orchestras. Wilson’s series of recordings for Chandos has hit a new high.' (Financial Times)
Available formats: SACD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
John Williams: Violin Concerto No. 1 & Bernstein: Serenade
James Ehnes (violin), Saint Louis Symphony, Stéphane Denève
'I’ve always admired the modesty and truthfulness of James Ehnes as a player – and you can hear that modesty at work in Phaedrus’s opening address from the Bernstein Serenade. There’s an unfussy directness about it that looks you straight in the eye and immediately draws you in.' (Gramophone)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
Saturday 13th September, 7pm - Last Night of the Proms
Programme includes Hummel's Trumpet Concerto and arias from Lehár's The Merry Widow and Gounod's Faust (Alison Balsom, Louise Alder, BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Elim Chan)
Haydn & Hummel: Trumpet Concertos
Alison Balsom (trumpet), Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
'Occasionally a player comes along who turns all the preconceived ideas about their instrument on their head, and reinvents the repertoire. … Alison Balsom is a virtuoso player and a natural, gifted communicator, but what really comes across is her sheer exuberance and joy in making music.' (Classic FM)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 44.1 kHz, 24 bit)
Chère Nuit: French Songs
Louise Alder (soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano)
'Here’s a peach of a recital disc, wonderfully programmed...At piano and pianissimo, Alder’s soprano possesses a lovely range of pastel colours.' (Gramophone)
Available formats: CD, Download & Streaming (up to 96 kHz, 24 bit)
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