From RVW’s Sancta Civitas & Bliss’ The Beatitudes to Reich’s The Desert Music & Birtwistle’s Earth Dances, plus 19 premieres: the BBC Proms 2025

This years BBC Proms are the first under the stewardship of Sam Jackson, controller of BBC Radio 3 who took over the Proms this year from David Pickard. Running from 18 July to 13 September, the festival features 72 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and 14 at venues around the UK.

The First Night opens with the Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood, by Sir Arthur Bliss, who died fifty years ago this year. Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in an evening that also include Ralph Vaughan Williams’ rarely performed Sancta Civitas which was completed 100 years ago, and the premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s The Elements, a BBC commission.

Bliss anniversary celebrations during the season also include his cantata The Beatitudes, premiered in Coventry at the same time as Britten’s War Requiem and rather overshadowed by that work. The Beatitudes is well worth exploring and I look forward to hearing the work with Oramo conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and BBC Singers in a programme that also includes Ruth Gipps’ Death on a Pale Horse.

Major anniversaries include Shostakovich who also died fifty years ago.

Aurora Orchestra and Nicholas Collon will be playing Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 from memory, and John Storgards conducts the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Singers and chorus of ENO in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Amanda Majeski, Brindley Sherratt, John Findon and Nicky Spence. Also in the season are the 10th and 13th symphonies, with Simon Rattle conducting Chineke! in Symphony No. 10 (in a fabulous programme that also includes Coleridge-Taylor and Geroge Walker’s work raging against the 2015 Charleston church massacre. Ryan Bancroft conducts Symphony No. 13 with BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a concert that includes Benjamin Grosvenor in Ravel’s Piano Concerto and music by Sofia Gubaidulina.

Another composer who died 50 years ago was Bernard Hermann, and there is an evening of his music for Hitchcock films, but it seems a shame that the opportunity was not taken to perform some of his non-film music, perhaps even his 1951 opera Wuthering Heights.

Both Pierre Boulez and Luciano Berio were born 100 years ago, and Ensemble Intercontemporain has a programme of both their work, whilst Berio’s iconic Sinfonia is being performed by Kazuki Yamada, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers. It is also Samuel Taylor-Coleridge’s 150th anniversary and as well as Rattle conducting Chineke! celebrations also feature Nil Venditti conducting BBC NOW in three short works, and something by his daughter, not a lot but at least it is something. Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday is celebrated with a late-night Prom from the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the doyen of Pärt’s choral music and here they mix it with Galina Grigorjeva, Bach, Rachmaninov and Tormis.

There are a total of 19 world, European or UK premieres will be performed, including 10 works commissioned by the BBC. The Last Night features new pieces by Camille Pépin and Rachel Portman, and other premieres include Tom Coult’s Monologues for the Curious, Mark Simpson’s ZEBRA (or 2-3-74; The Divine Invasion of Philip K. Dick), a new piece by Sir John Rutter, and works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Anthony Davis and Sofia Gubaidulina.

Further new music includes Jay Capperauld’s Bruckner’s Skull [see my interview with Capperauld for more fascinating details], Anna Clyne’s The Years and Gavin Higgins’ Rough Music. Harrison Birtwistle’s mammoth and masterful Earth Dances gets a welcome outing, as does Steve Reich’s The Desert Music conducted by Studio Ghibli legend Joe Hisaishi

Paul Dukas’ La Peri gets an airing as does the tone poem, Andromede by Augusta Holmes, and Delius’ Mass of Life. There is music by Grazyna Bacewicz, Elsa Barraine, Nico Dostal, Uros Krek, Alma Mahler, Ethel Smyth, Charlotte Sohy, Margaret Sutherland, and Grace Williams. Rattle also conducts the wind, brass and percussion of the London Symphony Orchestra for a series of folk-song arrangements by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger and Malcolm Arnold.  

Striggio’s 40-part Mass ‘Ecco si beato giorno is being performed by Le Concert Spirituel, whilst Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus make their Proms debut with Handel’s Alexander’s Feast.  Glyndebourne brings their new production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro to the festival, and Puccini’s Suor Angelica is performed by the LSO with Sir Antonio Pappano.  

The BBC Proms makes its debut in both Bradford, as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, and Sunderland, as well as returning to Bristol and Gateshead for two three-day weekend residencies, and a special Prom in Belfast marks the centenary of Radio 4’s popular Shipping Forecast. 

Beyond the wide range of classical, Proms include Samara Joy and the BBC Concert Orchestra in the great American songbook, Claudia Winkelman presenting The Traitors Prom, eclectic artist Arjooj Aftab blending South Asian with jazz, Soul Revolution prom, Anoushka Shankar, the CBeebies Prom, and rock artist St Vincent. That’s around eight out of 72 at the Royal Albert Hall, so non-classical is certainly not taking over. What there isn’t is any other world classical music, no classical music from other cultures. Surely we have more room for that.

Full details from the BBC Proms website.