Twenty-five artists perform in the 2023 BBC Proms season across HP, Polyarts, Birdsong & Touring
21/4/2023
Dalia Stasevska, Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, open the Proms season for the second time with a series of Nordic delights – from Grieg’s passionate Piano Concerto to Sibelius’s rousing statement of national identity, Finlandia. Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra introduces each section of the orchestra from strings to timpani and is packed with earworms for all ages. The programme will also feature a world premiere from Ukrainian composer, Bohdana Frolyak.
Following his Proms debut last year, Edwin Outwater returns to the Royal Albert Hall alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra for a Northern Soul Prom on 15 July. This stomping celebration of British club culture brings a symphonic edge to the beats that took English towns across the industrial North and Midlands by storm in the 1960s and 1970s, curated by writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie.
On 16 July Pekka Kuusisto appears at the Proms with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen as soloist, leader, and he makes his Proms debut as a conductor. The programme begins with Kuusisto conducting the orchestra in Andrea Tarrodi’s vibrant Birds of Paradise, and continues with Beethoven’s Symphony No.1.
After the interval, Kuusisto takes centre stage with his violin to perform his interpretation of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. The movements are interspersed with folk music improvisations by Kuusisto joined by his musical sparring partner, citternist Ale Carr.
Sir Stephen Hough performs Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.1 with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor, Mark Wigglesworth. The concert on the 18 July will mark the 50th anniversary of the Royal Northern College of Music where Sir Stephen studied. The programme will also include a world premiere of RNCM graduate composer, Grace- Evangeline Mason’s new work, and Mahler’s Symphony No.1.
On 20 July, Josep Pons conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra presenting a Spanish-themed Prom with a French accent. The concert opens in Andalusia, with music from Falla’s tragic opera La vida breve. Then Spain is portrayed through Debussy’s vignettes of Ibéria and Ravel’s Bolero. And the Spanish violonist María Dueñas, who is also the soloist in Édouard Lalo’s most famous work, will perform the Symphonie espagnole, which marks the French Romantic composer’s 200th anniversary.
In a late-night concert on 25 July, organist Anna Lapwood premieres a new work by Olivia Belli. Olivia’s work, commissioned by the Proms, is presented within a programme of organ music entitled Moon and Stars that also includes music by Debussy, Philip Glass and Hans Zimmer.
Gustavo Gimeno makes his Proms debut on 30 July, conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and violinst Vadim Gluzman. The programme features Hermann’s Vertigo Suite and Prokofiev’s Symphony No.3.
Klaus Mäkelä returns to the Proms on 4 August. With BBC Symphony Orchestra, he performs the UK premiere of Jimmy López Bellido’s Perú negro, Walton’s choral symphony Belshazzar’s Feast, and Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist Yuja Wang.
On 7 August Golda Schultz, Katarina Dalayman and Valentin Thill feature as Madame Lidoine, Madame de Croissy and Chevalier de la Force respectively in a special Proms performance of Glyndebourne Festival’s Dialogues des Carmélites to be conducted by Robin Ticciati.
Leila Josefowicz returns to the Proms on 10 August, performing Berg’s lyrical and dramatic Violin Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor, Sakari Oramo, conducts four Proms on 10, 14, 19 and 24 August. Joined by pianist Martin Helmchen, mezzo-soprano Jenny Carlstedt and violinist Christian Tetzlaff across the three Proms, he conducts a variety of excitingly dramatic works including Mahler’s gargantuan Symphony No.3, Elgar’s deeply personal Violin Concerto, the world premiere of Judith Weir’s Begin Afresh, and he repeats Dora Pejačević’s magnificent and rarely heard Symphony in F‑sharp minor.
The Philharmonia Orchestra and Principal Conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali return to this year’s Proms on 16 August performing Elgar’s bucolic overture In the South and Strauss’s tone-poem Aus Italien, bookending Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 with star soloist Seong-Jin Cho.
The European premiere of Samy Moussa’s Symphony No.2 primes a programme of graceful and dazzling works comprising Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.2 and Stravinsky’s The Firebird with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gemma New on 18 August.
Carlos Simon receives his BBC Proms debut on 26 August, with the European Premiere of his recent commission Four Black American Dances being performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Andris Nelsons. The piece celebrates the significance of dancing as part of the African American experience. It opens the concert which also features Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, plus works by Stravinsky and Ravel.
Our Creative Partnerships and Tours are thrilled to be working with Paavo Järvi who brings the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich to the Proms this summer for the first time after a delay of three years. Originally planned for 2020 during his first season as Music Director in Zürich, the performance was cancelled due to the pandemic. The delay will be worth the wait as Järvi and the Tonhalle-Orchester are now well-established as a top-league partnership. On the programme for the 30 August Prom is Beethoven’s Overture The Consecration of the House, Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with soloist Augustin Hadelich and Dvorak’s Symphony No.9.
Sofi Jeannin, Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers, appear with the BBC Singers in a programme showcasing a broad range of repertoire, including recent commissions by Soumik Datta and Joanna Marsh and a contemporary classic, Cantique des cantiques by Jean Yves Daniel-Lesur (7 September).
Ten years after his acclaimed BBC Proms debut in 2013, Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii returns to the Royal Albert Hall on 8 September to perform Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 with Domingo Hindoyan and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. This will mark the latest in a string of performances by Nobu with RLPO following their last collaboration in October 2022, which also featured Hindoyan on the podium.
