BBC Proms 2012 [Radio 3 Live In Concert]

Presented by Andrew McGregor

The Kronos Quartet makes its Proms debut with a typically eclectic Late Night programme which ranges from from Syrian folk-pop via Sofia Gubaidulina's Fourth Quartet to one based on 'Amazing Grace.

For almost 40 years, the Kronos Quartet has been reinventing the string quartet, regularly turning it into a multimedia experience. The group's first Proms appearance begins with high-octance Syrian folk-pop and ends with a Kronos commission blending classical strings with ethnic Balkan instruments, shouts, foot-stomping, bells and electronic overdubs.

In between, varied fare from the group's eclectic repertoire plus a BBC commission inspired by the work of Delia Derbyshire of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (responsible for the realisation of Ron Grainer's Doctor Who theme). Listen out, too, for the otherworldly Kronos arrangement of a Scandinavian folk lament.

Omar Souleyman, arr. Jacob Garchik: I'll Prevent the Hunters from Hunting You (La sidounak sayyada) (UK premiere)

Sofia Gubaidulina: String Quartet No. 4

Ben Johnston: String Quartet No. 4 'Amazing Grace

Nicole Liz退e: The Golden Age of the Radiophonic Workshop (Fibre-Optic Flowers) (BBC commission: world premiere)

Trad., transcr. Ljova, arr. Kronos Quartet: Tusen tankar (A Thousand Thoughts)

Aleksandra Vrebalov: ... hold me, neighbour, in this storm ...

Kronos Quartet.

Kronos Quartet makes its Proms debut with a typically varied range of music.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Petroc Trelawny

The youthful members of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra conducted by Mark Armstrong perform a wide-ranging set, from Jazz classics through to a new work by Tim Garland.

Founded in the mid-1960s the NYJO is world-famous as a glittering showcase for the country's best young jazz musicians with many of the current generation of top British jazz players having risen through its ranks. Known for their unique swinging big band sound they have always played a mix of classics and new works. In tonight's late-night Prom they perform compositions by Ellington and Monk through to contemporary pieces including the premiere of a new work by Tim Garland called 'Agro Alegria' described by its composer as 'almost a ballad' based on a dance rhythm from the flamenco tradition, with the word 'Agro' having the double meaning of planting and growing, but also a reference to the youthful rowdiness of the NYJO members.

Ellington: Rockin' in Rhythm

Nikki Iles: Hush

Kenny Wheeler: Sweet Time Suite - Know Where You Are

Monk (arr. Mark Armstrong): 'Round Midnight

Richardson: Groove Merchant

Chris Whiter: The Change

Tom Stone: Return Flight

Ellington (arr. Callum Au): Caravan

Ellington: Sunset and the Mocking Bird (The Queen's Suite)

Tim Garland: Agro Alegria

Tim Garland (saxophone)

Mark Mondesir (drums)

Mark Armstrong (conductor).

The National Youth Jazz Orchestra performs a wide-ranging set of jazz classics.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Tom Service

Six classics of post-war music are featured in this Late Night Prom, reflecting Radio 3's Fifty Modern Classics. London Sinfonietta, London Sinfonietta Academy Ensemble and Andre de Ridder play Ligeti, Berio, Xenakis, Harvey, Andriessen and Cage

The concert starts with Ligeti's playful Poeme with its 100 ticking metronomes; followed by Berio's iconoclastic Sequenza V for solo trombone; Xenakis's lively Phlegra; Jonathan Harvey's electronic mixture of bell and treble voice, Mortuos plango, vivos voco; Luis Andriessen's Minimalist musical clock, De snelheid; and ending with John Cage's infamous 4 minutes and thirty-three seconds of pure silence.

Ligeti: Po耀me symphonique

Berio: Sequenza V

Xenakis: Phlegra

Jonathan Harvey: Mortuos plango, vivos voco

Louis Andriessen: De snelheid

John Cage: 4'33

Byron Fulcher (trombone)

Sound Intermedia (sound projection)

Andr退 de Ridder (conductor).

London Sinfonietta/Andre de Ridder in Ligeti, Berio, Xenakis, Harvey, Andriessen and Cage.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Catherine Bott

Gilbert and Sullivan: The Yeomen of the Guard

Gilbert and Sullivan's richest and most emotionally engaging operetta set at the Tower of London in the 16th Century, is considered by many to be Sullivan's finest musical score.

Young Colonel Fairfax is imprisoned under the sentence of death for sorcery - in reality he's a scientist and alchemist - but a young girl, Phoebe Meryll and her father who served with Fairfax in the army plan to spring him from the Tower. Add to the story a lovelorn jailer, a young singer, a jester and the Yeomen themselves and you have the makings of a typical G&S operetta with lots of room for humour and twists of plot. The strong cast of soloists and an orchestra and conductor renowned for their G&S performances at the Proms will guarantee a memorable evening.

Elsie Maynard ..... Lisa Milne (soprano)

Colonel Fairfax ..... Andrew Kennedy (tenor)

Jack Point ..... Mark Stone (baritone)

Dame Carruthers ..... Felicity Palmer (mezzo-soprano)

Sergeant Meryll ..... Mark Richardson (baritone)

Wilfred Shadbolt ..... Toby Stafford-Allen (bass)

Phoebe Meryll ..... Heather Shipp (mezzo-soprano)

Lieutenant Sir Richard Cholmondeley ..... Leigh Melrose (bass-baritone)

Leonard Meryll ..... Tom Randle (tenor)

Kate ..... Mary Bevan (soprano)

First Yeoman ..... Jonathan McGovern (baritone)

Second Yeoman ..... Marcus Farnsworth (baritone)

Martin Duncan (director)

BBC Singers

BBC Concert Orchestra

Jane Glover (conductor).

Catherine Bott presents Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard from the 2012 Proms

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Penny Gore

Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra perform the complete score to Prokofiev's ballet Cinderella which contains some of the composer's most popular and melodious music.

This is a rare opportunity to hear Prokofiev's generously melodic fairy-tale ballet score in its full glory under the baton of a conductor steeped in the Russian ballet repertoire. It tells the famous fairytale of poor Cinderella who lives with her wicked stepsisters and goes to the ball after a make-over from a fairy and falls in love with the prince. Able to stay only till midnight when the spell wears off, she loses her slipper which the prince uses to find her again.

Prokofiev: Cinderella Op. 87

Valery Gergiev (conductor).

Valery Gergiev conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Prokofiev's Cinderella, Op 87.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Louise Fryer

American composer Eric Whitacre has written some of the most widely sung, ravishingly scored, and greatly talked-about choral music of the last few years - especially through the pieces performed by his online Virtual Choir. Tonight his own choral group joins forces with the BBC Singers for a feast of music mainly by Whitacre himself.

The Prom includes several of the composer's best-known pieces plus two new works, and also includes music by Leonard Bernstein together with three classic spiritual arrangements by Moses Hogan - both of them fellow countrymen. With the rich acoustics of the Albert Hall, and the thrilling sound of the 48-voice combined choirs, this will be a choral feast of a concert.

Bernstein: Warm-Up

Eric Whitacre: Alleluia

Eric Whitacre: Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine

J S Bach arr. E London: Bach Again

Eric Whitacre: Higher, Faster, Stronger (BBC commission: world Premiere)

Imogen Heap arr. Eric Whitacre: The Listening Chair (world premiere)

Hogan: Three Spirituals

Eric Whitacre: Cloudburst

Eric Whitacre: Sleep

Imogen Heap (vocals)

Hila Plitmann (soprano)

ensemblebash (percussion)

Christopher Glynn (piano)

Eric Whitacre Singers

Eric Whitacre (conductor).

Choral music by Eric Whitacre from his own choir and the BBC Singers.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Andrew McGregor

The Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle return to the Proms for the first of two concerts with an evening of wide-ranging sonic adventure.

In the first half they present three different approaches to the experience of calm, firstly in Ligeti's slowly shifting sound-clouds, then with Wagner's sustained stillness through to Sibelius's most formidable and bleak evocation of a frozen landscape. The French second half is, in contrast, all about movement and dance. Tennis is not the only game played in Debussy's flirtatious ballet Jeux, while Ravel's suite, drawn from his famous ballet begins with a sunrise and ends in an orgy.

Ligeti: Atmosph耀res

Wagner: Lohengrin - Prelude, Act 1

Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 in A minor

Debussy: Jeux

Ravel: Daphnis and Chlo뀀 - Suite No. 2

Simon Rattle (conductor).

Proms 2012: Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle in Ligeti, Wagner, Sibelius, Debussy, Ravel.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Andrew McGregor

The Berliner Philharmoniker and Simon Rattle in their second Proms appearance perform music by Brahms and Lutoslawski.

The orchestra is joined by distinguished pianist Yefim Bronfman who is soloist in Brahms's mighty Second Piano Concerto, known for its technical difficulty, length and for the fact that the pianist has to share some of the limelight with the lead cellist who has a beautiful three-minute solo at the start of the slow movement. Lutoslawski's Third Symphony was completed in the early 1980s during a troubled period in the composer's native Poland, it combines experimental techniques with craftsmanship, conviction and lyricism.

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major

Lutoslawski: Symphony No.3

Yefim Bronfman (piano)

Simon Rattle (conductor).

Prom from 2012, with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic in Brahms and Lutoslawski.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Jez Nelson

Guitarist Martin Taylor joins the Britten Sinfonia and conductor Guy Barker in the London premiere of The Spirit of Django a tribute to the great jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

This late-night Prom is a unique collaboration between two greats of the British jazz scene: multi award-winning guitarist Martin Taylor and trumpeter and arranger Guy Barker. Based on themes created by Taylor and then arranged and orchestrated by Barker the piece is inspired by legendary Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. The resulting homage is a suite lasting nearly an hour which suits the Proms well - as Barker remarks Reinhardt was an ideal subject: 'Django was a fan of Debussy as well as Louis Armstrong',

Martin Taylor & Guy Barker: The Spirit of Django - orchestral suite (London premiere)

Martin Taylor (guitar)

Guy Barker Jazz Orchestra

Guy Barker (conductor).

From Proms 2012: Martin Taylor, Britten Sinfonia and Guy Barker celebrate Django Reinhardt

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Donald Macleod

In the first of their two Proms the dynamic Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly perform four works by Mendelssohn: the well-known overture Ruy Blas based on Victor Hugo's blood-and-thunder play, and the lesser known overture about the mermaid The Fair Melusine which Mendelssohn referred to as 'the most intimate thing' he produced. The Danish violinist Nicolaj Znaider is the soloist in the ever-popular Violin Concerto. The Prom ends with the UK premiere of the original version of the Fifth Symphony, a work written in celebration of the Lutheran Reformation..

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. Mendelssohn became their music director in 1835 and held the position until his death in 1847. Riccardo Chailly has been its conductor since 2005.

Mendelssohn: Overture 'Ruy Blas

Violin Concerto in E minor

Overture - 'The Fair Melusine

Symphony No. 5 in D major, 'Reformation' (UK premiere of original version)

Nikolaj Znaider (violin)

Riccardo Chailly (conductor.

Riccardo Chailly conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in music by Mendelssohn.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Penny Gore

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Riccardo Chailly in their second Prom perform Messiaen's dramatic 1964 memorial to the dead of two world wars, Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum, and Mahler's 6th Symphony which is a similarly wide-ranging soundscape moving from death-portending hammer-blows to alpine cow-bells. It also contains one of Mahler's most glorious slow movements.

Together with the Turangalila Symphony, Messiaen's Et Expecto is one of his most often performed orchestral works. It is on a vast canvas with a wide dynamic range, full of orchestral effects and apocalyptic gongs. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the oldest symphony orchestras in the world. Riccardo Chailly has been their conductor since 2005.

Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum

Mahler: Symphony No. 6 in A minor

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

From Proms 2012: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Riccardo Chailly in Messiaen and Mahler.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Louise Fryer and Kirsty Young present this Prom celebrating 70 years of the popular Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. Some castaways make guest appearances explaining their choices, which will be performed by a star-studded line-up of soloists. Music includes excerpts from Beethoven's Emperor Concerto played by Peter Donohoe, Elgar's Cello Concerto with soloist Nicholas Alstaedt, and Eric Coates's Sleepy Lagoon and the Dambusters March.

Ailish Tynan (soprano)

Nicholas Alstaedt (cello)

Peter Donohoe (piano)

Wayne Marshall (organ)

Willard White (bass-baritone)

Huddersfield Choral Society

Conductor Keith Lockhart.

The Proms celebrates 70 years of Desert Island Discs with a celebrity concert.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Martin Handley.

One of the great musical partnerships is celebrated tonight, as the pianist Murray Perahia joins conductor Bernard Haitink and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra to perform Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, undoubtedly the most personal - and radical - of the five. Bruckner's monumental last symphony also promises to be a highlight of this year's Proms. Bernard Haitink is one of the great interpreters of this profoundly spiritual music, and Bruckner himself described the Vienna Philharmonic as 'the most superior' orchestra.

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G

Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D minor

Murray Perahia (piano)

Bernard Haitink (conductor).

Bernard Haitink conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in music by Beethoven and Bruckner.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Mary Ann Kennedy

A late night Prom with the Congolese street band Staff Benda Bilili, who perform music from their latest Album Bouger Le Monde (Make the World Move) and are also joined by the brilliant Congolese-Belgo rapper Baloji.

Staff Benda Bilili, a group of paraplegic street musicians and ex-street kids from the Democratic Republic of Congo, are one of the most inspiring success stories in the global music scene. They live around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa and make music rooted in Soukous (or African rumba) with elements of old-school rhythm and blues, reggae and funk. In this late night Prom they perform material from their latest release Bouger Le Monde, and also join forces with the Congolese-born and Belgian-educated rapper Baloji, who mixes old and cutting-edge sounds with bitingly modern lyrics.

Prom ceaturing Congolese band Staff Benda Bilili playing with rapper Baloji.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world

Presented by Sean Rafferty and Suzy Klein

Jiri Belohlavek conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the traditional Last Night of the Proms festivities with special guests violinist Nicola Benedetti and tenor Joseph Calleja.

The year's biggest musical party at the end of the world's greatest musical festival in what is a special summer for London promises to be a special event. Since taking the nation by storm as the 2004 BBC Young Musician of the Year, Scottish-born Nicola Benedetti has enhanced her reputation as one of Britain's most innovative and creative young violinists and tonight she's playing Bruch's luscious Violin Concerto, a piece often voted the nation's favourite. Also on stage is Joseph Calleja, the Maltese tenor who sings with the grace and elegance of the voices of a bygone era. In his last concert as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiri Belohlavek brings with him two works by fellow Czechs - Dvorak and Suk. All this before the familiar home-grown classics bring down the curtain in time-honoured fashion.

Mark Simpson: Sparks [BBC Commission, World Premiere]

Suk: Toward a New Life

Delius: Songs of Farewell

Verdi: Forse la soglia attinse... Ma se m'e forza perderti (from Ballo in Maschera)

Massenet: Pourquoi me reveiller? (from Werther)

Bruch: Violin Concerto no. 1 in G minor

Puccini: E Lucevan le Stelle (from Tosca)

Puccini: Nessun Dorma (from Turandot)

John Williams: Olympic Fanfare and Theme

Dvorak: Carnival Overture op. 92

Shostakovich: Romance (from The Gadfly)

Leoncavallo: Mattinata

Lara: Granada

Rodgers: You'll never walk alone (from Carousel)

Wood: Fantasia on British Sea Songs

Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1

Parry (orch. Elgar): Jerusalem

Britten: National Anthem

Britten: Auld Lang Syne

Joseph Calleja (tenor)

Nicola Benedetti (violin)

BBC Symphony Chorus

Jiri Belohlavek (conductor).

Jiri Belohlavek conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Last Night of the Proms.

Presenting exciting live musical events from all over the world