BBC Proms 2012 programme announced

Barenboim, Bernstein and Wallace and Gromit

Published: April 23, 2012 at 11:11 am

The BBC Proms 2012 programme will feature performances of all of Beethoven’s Symphonies, an opening night celebrating British music, more commissions than ever before… and a Wallace and Gromit children’s Prom.

For the first time in nearly 60 years all of Beethoven’s Symphonies will be heard in their entirety at the Proms, courtesy of Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (20-27 July). This year’s festival also gets a visit from Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, with two concerts featuring music by Ligeti, Wagner and Brahms on 30&31 August. And conductor Bernard Haitink comes to London on 6&7 September with the Vienna Philharmonic to perform works including Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9.

The opening night is a very British affair – with performances of Elgar’s Cockaigne Overture and Coronation Ode, Delius’s Sea Drift and Tippett’s Suite for the Birthday of Prince Charles. But the very first piece of the festival is Canon Fever by Mark-Anthony Turnage – look out for more about this in our July issue…

Following the success of last year’s Horrible Histories Prom, the Aurora Orchestra returns this year with The Wallace and Gromit Prom: Musical Marvels! The concert on 29 July promises music by John Adams, Debussy and Shostakovich alongside ‘specially filmed new Wallace & Gromit animations’ – and a performance of Wallace’s piece My Concerto in Ee, Lad.

Other highlights include a performance of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner – to mark the composer’s 150th anniversary; a celebration of the music of Ivor Novello and a performance of Berlioz’s The Trojans starring tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek.

The full Proms programme can be found on the BBC Proms site – and look out for our BBC Music Magazine Proms special, on sale 6 June.

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