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The most famous classical concert series in the world, the BBC Proms, is back in full (live) effect this summer, with 52 concerts featuring 30 orchestras and ensembles, and more than 2,000 musicians, In a celebration of British music and performers, the series will feature stars including Nicola Benedetti, Karen Cargill, Lucy Crowe, Sir Mark Elder, Benjamin Grosvenor, Steven Isserlis, Sally Matthews, Sir Simon Rattle, Christine Rice, Roderick Williams and Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
2021 is also the 150th anniversary of the Royal Albert Hall and 80 years since the venue became home to the Proms, so the iconic venue is being celebrated, including Gity Razaz’s new work which opens the Last Night of the Proms, and which is inspired by the building’s original name: ‘The Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences’.
In another first, this year sees four unprogrammed ‘mystery proms’ to be revealed at a later date, allowing the festival to react and respond to the changing times.
The 2021 Proms will see a repertoire of music spanning more than half a millennium. Concerts include Bach’s ‘St Matthew Passion’, Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s performance of Wagner’s ‘Tristan and Isolde’, ‘The Golden Age of Broadway’ with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra returning for its fourth visit to the Proms, singer-songwriter Moses Sumney with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and award-winning jazz saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia.
It’s great to see this fixture of London’s cultural calendar back on stage in front of live audiences, as epic as ever.
The BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, Jul 30-Sep 11 2021. Full details and booking information www.bbc.co.uk/proms.
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After all that culture, you deserve a drink in a rooftop bar.