BBC Proms 2014

Presented by Suzy Klein at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Cole Porter: Kiss Me Kate

Fred Graham / Petruchio ..... Ben Davis

Lilli Vanessi / Katherine Minola ..... Alexandra Silber

Bill Calhoun / Lucentio ..... Tony Yazbeck

Lois Lane / Bianca ..... Louise Dearman

John Wilson (conductor)

The appearances of John Wilson and his orchestra have become one of the annual highlights of the Proms. Following the enormous success of the staged performance of My Fair Lady in 2012, John Wilson returns to perform Cole Porter's Tony Award-winning musical Kiss Me, Kate in its original 1948 arrangements. He is joined by a cast of leading singers in this irreverent reworking of The Taming of the Shrew - a play within a play.

Concert originally broadcast 02/08/2014.

Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate with the John Wilson Orchestra, recorded at the 2014 BBC Proms

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Presented by Martin Handley

Tavener: Ikon of Light

Tavener: Requiem Fragments (BBC commission; world premiere)

Carolyn Sampson (soprano)

Heath Quartet

Peter Phillips (conductor)

Concert originally broadcast 04/08/2014.

The Tallis Scholars under Peter Phillips in Tavener: Ikon of Light; Requiem Fragments.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Introduced by Petroc Trelawny

Gregory Porter (singer)

Clare Teal (singer / presenter)

Count Pearson Proms Band

James Pearson (leader / conductor)

Duke Windsor Proms Band

Grant Windsor (leader / conductor)

Leading jazz singer Clare Teal presents a Late Night Prom with a difference as we are transported back to the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s with two of the greatest bands of the day, led at the time by Count Basie and Duke Ellington. With selections including Jumpin' at the Woodside and It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing), and culminating in a bespoke 'Battle Royal', the roof will surely be raised as these giants of jazz do battle for the approval of the audience.

Concert originally broadcast 08/08/2014.

A Prom evoking the swing era, with Clare Teal, James Pearson and Grant Windsor.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Steve Reich: The Desert Music (chamber version)

Endymion

David Hill (conductor)

Steve Reich's extraordinary musical vision The Desert Music' tells of the end of the world as imagined in the apocalypse of the post-nuclear age. Texts by William Carlos Williams are set for amplified voices, strings, synthesisers and a huge array of percussion; since its composition in 1983 it has become one of Reich's most iconic works.

Concert originally broadcast 13/08/2014.

Endymion and BBC Singers under David Hill in Steve Reich's The Desert Music.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Dobrinka Tabakova: Spinning a Yarn

Benedict Mason: Meld (BBC commission: world premiere)

Alexandra Wood (violin) (Proms debut artist)

Stevie Wishart (hurdy-gurdy)

Chantage

Nicholas Collon (conductor)

Concert originally broadcast 16/08/2014.

The Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon from the 2014 BBC Proms.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Tom Service

Laura Mvula live at the BBC Proms with the premiere of Jules Buckley's new orchestral remix of Mvula's album Sing to the Moon.

Music includes:

Father, Father

Flying Without You

Make Me Lovely

She

Laura Mvula (vocalist)

Esperanza Spalding (vocalist)

ElectricVocals

Metropole Orchestra

Jules Buckley (conductor)

Brit Award- and Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter Laura Mvula made her Proms debut last year in the hugely successful Urban Classic Prom. Now the classically trained artist returns for a Late Night Prom that showcases her talents in a new light. This Prom includes the public premiere of Jules Buckley's new orchestral remix of Mvula's album Sing to the Moon, in which the Netherlands-based Metropole Orchestra makes its Proms debut.

Concert originally broadcast 19/08/2014.

Prom featuring James Buckley's orchestral remix of Laura Mvula's album Sing to the Moon.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Penny Gore at the Royal Albert Hall, London

Debussy: La mer

Unsuk Chin: Šu

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B minor, 'Path退tique

Wu Wei (sheng)

Myung-Whun Chung (conductor)

Myung-Whun Chung made his first Proms appearance this summer as Music Director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, which made its own Proms debut as one of a series of global orchestras.

They brought with them the sounds of South Korea in a concerto for sheng (traditional reed mouth organ) and orchestra written by their compatriot Unsuk Chin - a sonic game between soloist and orchestra.

Chin's evocative textures are framed by the sensuous richness of Debussy's La mer, capturing the sea in all its moods, and Tchaikovsky's final symphony, with its elusive but turbulent narrative.

Concert originally broadcast 27/08/2014.

Myung-Whun Chung conducts the Seoul Philharmonic in Debussy, Unsuk Chin and Tchaikovsky.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Martin Handley

Holst: The Planets

Schoenberg: Five Orchestral Pieces

Scriabin: Prometheus - The Poem of Fire

Alexander Toradze (piano)

London Philharmonic Choir

Vladimir Jurowski (conductor)

Tuneful good humour and vivid characterisation see the century at its most approachable in Holst's well-loved The Planets. Scriabin's Prometheus is more eccentric - scored for piano, 'colour organ' and orchestra. This performance of it includes the optional part for choir and responds to the composer's imaginative ideas on colour.

Premiered at the Proms in 1912, Schoenberg's Five Orchestral Pieces take tonality to the limit, anticipating the composer's later development of serialism.

Concert originally broadcast 28/08/2014.

From Proms 2014: London Philharmonic/Vladimir Jurowski in Holst, Schoenberg and Scriabin.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Presented by Christopher Cook

Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila - overture

Zhou Long: Postures (European premiere)

Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor

Andreas Haefliger (piano)

Lan Shui (conductor)

Continuing the World Orchestras strand this year, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra made its Proms debut under Music Director Lan Shui, bringing with it the European premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning Chinese composer Zhou Long's Piano Concerto - a fusion of Western forms and Eastern memories.

The concert opens with the overture to Glinka's fairy-tale opera Ruslan and Lyudmila, which weaves three melodies together with intricate skill. We end with Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, in which the composer overcame his early artistic doubts to produce an expansive work with a brilliant, vivacious scherzo and one of his very loveliest slow movements.

Concert originally broadcast 02/09/2014.

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Andreas Haefliger from the 2014 BBC Proms.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Andrew McGregor at the Royal Albert Hall, London

Beethoven: Symphony no. 8 in F major

Berlioz: Romeo and Juliet - Romeo Alone

Dvovak: Symphony no. 9 in E minor 'From the New World

Sir Roger Norrington (Conductor)

Following his St John Passion earlier in the season, Roger Norrington returned as Honorary Conductor of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. Much-loved symphonies by Beethoven and Dvorak bookend a programme of big musical emotions that has at its core the wistful romance of the Romeo Alone section of Berlioz's sprawling choral symphony.

Beethoven's 'little symphony in F' brings joy and wit to the mix, belying the composer's troubled personal life with its sunny good humour. By contrast, biography is woven tightly into the melodies and rhythms of Dvorak's final symphony - the elegiac testimony to his love of his Bohemian homeland and his new-found fascination for the stories and traditions of America.

Concert originally broadcast 03/09/2014.

Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra under Roger Norrington in Beethoven, Berlioz and Dvorak

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Presented by Petroc Trelawny

Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances

Stravinsky: The Firebird

Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)

Sir Simon Rattle and his Berlin Philharmonic don their dancing shoes and whisk us off to Russia - via America in the case of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances. Composed on Long Island for the Philadelphia Orchestra, they blend the balletic traditions of the exile Rachmaninov's Russian homeland with jazz influences from his adopted home, the United States. Then there's authentic Russian ballet and fairy tale in Stravinsky's breakthrough work about the magical Firebird.

Concert originally broadcast 05/09/2014.

Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle. Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances. Stravinsky: The Firebird.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Andrew McGregor at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Music includes

Paloma Faith, orch. Guy Barker:

Picking up the pieces

Can't rely on you

Only love can hurt like this

Guy Barker: Upside down

Ty Taylor (guest vocalist)

Guy Barker (Conductor)

Brit Award-nominated Paloma Faith brings her sleek vocals and retro style to a Late Night Prom. The British singer-songwriter is joined by a 42-piece jazz orchestra and the Urban Voices Collective. This is cabaret, Royal Albert Hall-style.

Concert originally broadcast 05/09/2014.

Paloma Faith with the Guy Barker Orchestra and Urban Voices Collective at the 2014 Proms.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Petroc Trelawny at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Behzad Ranjbaran: Seemorgh - The Sunrise (European premiere)

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor

Denis Matsuev (piano)

Han-Na Chang (conductor)

Cellist and conductor Han-Na Chang makes her Proms conducting debut as Music Director of the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra - one of this year's global orchestras, also making its debut. Their concert culminates in Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, haunted by its recurring 'Fate' theme.

Vivid with contrasts and surging climaxes, the symphony is matched for drama by Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, a Proms favourite whose slow movement burns with restrained passion. Behzad Ranjbaran's Seemorgh is inspired by the mythical Persian bird of its title.

Concert originally broadcast 07/09/2014.

The Qatar Philharmonic performs music by Behzad Ranjbaran, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Ian Skelly at the Royal Albert Hall, London

Brahms: Academic Festival Overture

J怀rg Widmann: Flûte en suite (UK premiere)

Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68

Joshua Smith (flute)

Franz Welser-M怀st (conductor)

The Cleveland Orchestra is one of America's great ensembles. After an absence of almost a decade it returns to the Proms under its Music Director Franz Welser-M怀st.

If Brahms's stormy and intricately structured First Symphony sees the composer at his most serious and structurally ambitious, his Academic Festival Overture is a rare example of his levity - an elegantly constructed musical thank-you-letter to Breslau University, taking its themes from boisterous student songs.

At the centre of the programme is a concerto commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra for its principal flautist Joshua Smith. Rejecting anything too grandiose, young German composer J怀rg Widmann has opted for a suite of dance movements - playful, referential and imaginatively disorientating.

Concert originally broadcast 07/09/2014.

Franz Welser-Most conducts the Cleveland Orchestra in music by Brahms and Jorg Widmann.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Donald Macleod at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Brahms: Tragic Overture

J怀rg Widmann: Teufel Amor (UK premiere)

Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73

Franz Welser-M怀st (conductor)

The Cleveland Orchestra begins its second concert at the BBC Proms featuring music by Brahms and J怀rg Widmann with Brahms's Tragic Overture, a work which lives up to its name with turbulent intensity. This year's cycle of Brahms symphonies wass brought to a conclusion with a performance of the sunny Second. The composer was in unusually high spirits while composing it, joking with his publisher, 'I have never written anything so sad'. The result, in fact, sets aside Brahms's habitual seriousness and dramatic tensions in an open-hearted score of great warmth and appeal. In between these two works is young German J怀rg Widmann's Teufel Amor - a musical account of the contradictions, tensions and resolutions of love, inspired by Schiller's lost poem.

Concert originally broadcast 08/09/2014.

Franz Welser-Most conducts the Cleveland Orchestra in music by Brahms and Jorg Widmann.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Recorded during this year's BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Presented by Andrew McGregor

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Concert Overture 'Ebb of Winter' (London premiere)

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Strathclyde Concerto No. 4

Dimitri Ashkenazy (clarinet)

Ben Gernon (conductor)

On Sir Peter Maxwell Davies's 80th birthday the Proms pays tribute to this leading figure in contemporary British music with a programme of works selected by the composer.

The concert overture Ebb of Winter, commissioned by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as part of its 40th-anniversary celebrations, captures the rugged, rough-hewn beauty of Davies's Orkney home. The fourth Strathclyde Concerto, for clarinet and orchestra, completes the concert - a thrilling tour de force, demanding equal virtuosity from soloist and ensemble.

Concert originally broadcast 08/09/2014.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Ben Gernon performs music by Peter Maxwell Davies.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Christopher Cook at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on 'Greensleeves

Sir Harrison Birtwistle: Exody

Walton: Viola Concerto

Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 4 in F minor

Lise Berthaud (viola)

Andrew Litton (conductor)

The idyll of Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on 'Greensleeves' is soon abandoned in the composer's dark and questioning Symphony No. 4 and Birtwistle's Exody, an overwhelming musical labyrinth of sound.

This season's composer focus on William Walton continues with his much-loved Viola Concerto - a work that had its premiere at the Proms, conducted by the composer and featuring composer and violist Paul Hindemith as soloist. Powerful, often dark music that looks far beyond the pastoral stereotypes. Tonight it is performed by BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Lise Berthaud.

Andrew Litton conducts the BBC SO in music by Vaughan Williams, Birtwistle and Walton.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Martin Handley at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Mahler: Symphony No. 3 in D minor

Gerhild Romberger (mezzo-soprano)

Leipzig Opera and Gewandhaus Choir (women's voices)

Leipzig Gewandhaus Childrens Choir

Alan Gilbert (conductor)

The world will never have heard the likes of my symphony!' A bold claim by any composer, but one more than justified by Mahler's Third Symphony.

This epic, unorthodox work unfolds over six movements, painting a musical portrait of nature's very essence. Pagan gods and Christian saints, flower meadows and silent forests, instruments and voices all come together in a work that moves beyond the confines of programme music.

American conductor Alan Gilbert returns to conduct this masterpiece in the first of two Proms with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Concert originally broadcast 11/09/2014.

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra recorded at the 2014 BBC Proms in Mahler's Third Symphony

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Petroc Trelawny

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra & Alan Gilbert live at the BBC Proms: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Friedrich Cerha: Paraphrase on the Opening of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op.125, 'Choral

Christina Landshamer (soprano)

Gerhild Romberger (mezzo-soprano)

Steve Davislim (tenor)

Dmitry Belosselskiy (bass)

Members of the Leipzig Opera Chorus

Leipzig Gewandhaus Choir

Leipzig Gewandhaus Childrens Choir

London Symphony Chorus

Alan Gilbert (conductor)

A highlight of every season in recent Proms history, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 this year returns to its once-traditional slot on the penultimate night - a symphonic finale before the musical party that is the Last Night.

Giving their second performance this summer, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and conductor Alan Gilbert are joined by an international cast of soloists for this audacious musical testament of faith and unity across all nations and creeds. When Mahler later said that a symphony should 'embrace the whole universe', it's hard to imagine he wasn't thinking of Beethoven's mighty 'Choral' Symphony.

Concert originally broadcast 12/09/2014.

Alan Gilbert conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Beethoven's Symphony No 9.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Sean Rafferty and Suzy Klein

Sakari Oramo directs his first Last Night, joined by star Dutch violinist Janine Jansen.

We pay tribute to the late John Tavener with his touching Song for Athene, and mark the 50th anniversary of the film Mary Poppins with a singalong medley.

Arnold's Peterloo overture receives its first performance in a new choral version with lyrics by Sir Tim Rice, while our Richard Strauss anniversary celebrations conclude with the Proms premiere of the composer's massive cantata Taillefer.

The nautical flavour of Ansell's Plymouth Hoe (and its brief quotation of Rule, Britannia!) forms an upbeat to the traditional Last Night favourites, led by baritone Roderick Williams.

Gavin Higgins: Velocity (BBC commission: world premiere)

Arnold: Overture 'Peterloo' (new choral version with lyrics by Sir Tim Rice: world premiere)

Walton: Facade - Popular Song

Chausson: Po耀me

Tavener: Song for Athene

R Strauss: Taillefer, Op. 52

Khachaturian: Gayane - Sabre Dance

Ravel: Tzigane

Kern arr. Roderick Williams: Show Boat - 'Ol' Man River

Trad. arr. Roderick Williams: Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

Richard M Sherman & Robert B Sherman: Mary Poppins - medley

Ansell: Plymouth Hoe

Arne arr. Sargent: Rule, Britannia!

Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major ('Land of Hope and Glory')

Parry orch. Elgar: Jerusalem

arr. Britten: The National Anthem

Janine Jansen (violin)

Roderick Williams (baritone)

Elizabeth Watts (soprano)

John Daszak (tenor)

BBC Singers

BBC Symphony Chorus

Sakari Oramo (conductor)

Concert originally broadcast 13/09/2014.

The 2014 Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC SO and Sakari Oramo

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Presented by Sara Mohr-Pietsch

Neil Tennant / Chris Lowe: Overture to 'Performance

Neil Tennant / Chris Lowe: Pet Shop Boys songs

Neil Tennant / Chris Lowe: A Man from the Future (orch. S. Helbig) (world premiere)

Juliet Stevenson (narrator)

Chrissie Hynde (vocalist)

BBC Singers

BBC Concert Orchestra

Dominic Wheeler (conductor)

The legendary Pet Shop Boys made their Proms debut in this Late Night Prom, joining the BBC Singers and BBC Concert Orchestra for the world premiere of A Man from the Future, a new piece for electronics, orchestra, choir and narrator.

The piece is inspired by the life and work of Alan Turing, who helped break the German Enigma code during the Second World War and formulated the concept of the digital computer, but was prosecuted in 1952 for his homosexuality, receiving a posthumous pardon last year. It comes as a timely homage, 60 years after Turing's death.

The concert also includes new orchestral arrangements by renowned film composer Angelo Badalamenti of five Pet Shop Boys songs chosen by Tennant and Lowe, in which they are joined by Chrissie Hynde, as well as the exuberant overture to their 1991 tour, Performance, heard live in concert for the first time.

Concert originally broadcast 23/07/2014.

Pet Shop Boys and Chrissie Hynde in song arrangements and the work A Man from the Future.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Clemency Burton-Hill at Cadogan Hall, London.

Peter Maxwell Davies: Revelation and Fall

Peter Maxwell Davies: A Mirror of Whitening Light

Rebecca Bottone (soprano)

Sian Edwards (conductor)

Celebrating his 80th birthday year and the subject of one of the 2014 season's Proms Plus Composer Portraits, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is one of the greats of contemporary British music.

The programme, chosen by the composer himself, explores his wide-ranging sound-worlds, from the sleek and glittering chamber textures of A Mirror of Whitening Light (completed in 1977, shortly after his move to Orkney) to the confrontational music drama of Revelation and Fall.

Concert originally broadcast 30/08/2014.

The London Sinfonietta in a Prom marking Peter Maxwell Davies's birthday.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season

Presented by Clemency Burton-Hill at Cadogan Hall, London.

Sir Harrison Birtwistle: Verses for Ensembles

Sir Harrison Birtwistle: Dinah and Nick's Love Song

Sir Harrison Birtwistle: Meridian

Hilary Summers (mezzo-soprano)

Exaudi

Oliver Knussen (conductor)

Along with fellow Lancastrian composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir Harrison Birtwistle celebrated his 80th birthday in 2014. The BBC Proms marked the occasion with a concert from one of the UK's leading new-music ensembles, the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

The group's relationship with Birtwistle's music is a long one, and here it performs three of the composer's classic early works. Each explores the spatial dramatisation of music, playing aural games with the audience and exposing them to intriguing and unfamiliar textures, while never neglecting the ever-unfolding melody that is at the core of all Birtwistle's music.

Concert originally broadcast 06/09/2014.

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group under Oliver Knussen in music by Harrison Birtwistle.

Another chance to hear broadcasts of selected concerts from the 2014 BBC Proms season