Blue Peter Proms

After seven years, the formula for the Blue Peter Prom is well established. Parents can expect orchestral showpieces, audience participation, film music, presenters having a go (last year conducting, this year playing the flute), and some wild guest spots. It's no mean feat to make small children feel comfortable in the overwhelming Albert Hall, but the real challenge is to keep their attention. Presenters Liz Barker and Simon Thomas joined in heroically, but nothing they said made my young friends listen.

Still, this was a pretty good year. The wild guests delivered handsomely: the whole hall gasped as the Chinese lion costumes of the Choy Lee Fut Kung Fu School charged down the aisles. And no one could resist 14-year-old Oliver Kirby, youngest member of Exeter's Kagemusha Taiko troupe, drumming with all his might.

The orchestral selection was a mixed success. Six-year-old Josh liked the Firebird and the Nutcracker, but switched off completely for John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine. The audience participation was a bit limp, and in the case of finger-clicking, too difficult for small hands. The sure-fire winner was Ravel's Bolero, in which the BBC Philharmonic got to use their clowning skills. Starting with an almost empty stage, they appeared one by one from all over the hall, each with a different reason for being late. Audience heads started turning. If you watched violinist Nigel Jay fishing by the organ and catching a giant rabbit, you might have missed cellist Rebecca Aldersea wielding her broom around the double bass section.

Creativity is not in short supply at the BBC Philharmonic; double bassist Peter Willmott's orchestration of a Japanese folk song brought the hall to rapt attention. In fact, the creative potential of the orchestra came across as the most fertile field of the show, able to keep the audience's attention much better than the Blue Peter script. One thing you can't fault about the formula: they chose the right orchestra.

For last night of proms tickets, sports tickets, opera-ballet tickets, concert tickets, theatre tickets and exclusive event tickets in the UK and worldwide. Premier Events pledges to provide the cheapest event tickets on the net.No commission, transaction charges or hidden booking fees. By law, we must charge VAT, but the price you see is the price you pay.we ensure their safe and prompt delivery to our customer.
Buy last night of proms tickets with full trust!

the 2009 prom season is announced by bbc

Having previous Visits done by international orchestras, such as the Royal Concertgebouw under Mariss Jansons, the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Riccardo Chailly, and the Vienna Philharmonic under Harnoncourt and Mehta, are contrasted with a Bollywood extravaganza, a complete performance of Handel's Samson and three performances from Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. The latter includes a complete performance of Beethoven's Fidelio in concert, with a rare UK visit from Waltraud Meier as Leonore, Simon O'Neill as Florestan and Sir John Tomlinson as Rocco. Barenboim will also lead the orchestra in the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique.

The birthday composers are well served. In addition to Partenope and Samson, Handel is represented by a brilliant performance of Messiah, four of the Coronation Anthems, arias from several of the operas and excerpts from Music for the Royal Fireworks. Glyndebourne's production of The Fairy Queen comes to the Proms in a semi-staging, while other Purcell works are showcased in a Chamber Prom and on the Last Night. Mendelssohn does particularly well, with the symphonies, the Violin Concerto and the First Piano Concerto. Of note here is the Halle's performance of Symphony No 2, Lobegesang, with its extended choral movement. Haydn, too, is celebrated, but perhaps less extensively so than might be the case, given his enormous output. Still, The Creation should be a highlight, with soprano Rosemary Joshua joining Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli Consort, as should the Manchester Camerata's performance of The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross.
Contemporary music is as well served as ever, with a wide range of world and UK premieres. Louis Andriessen's The Hague Hacking is played here for the first time, as are the revised version of Rebecca Saunders's traces and Schnittke's Nagasaki, while Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies are also represented. As ever, the Proms are branching out, too, with an evening devoted to seventy-five years of the MGM musicals with Sir Thomas Allen and Kim Criswell and a special day celebrating the music of Bollywood.

All of Stravinsky's ballet music will be performed – perhaps an unnecessary move, since the pieces are regularly performed in both concert halls and in their original balletic settings – as will Tchaikovsky's piano concerti. Martha Argerich will perform two concerti in the same programme, and there's a slightly crazy ‘multiple pianos' day featuring a large number of pianists including the Labeque sisters. More unusually, the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain will make their Proms debut.

On the whole, it seems a strong season, with a much greater range of international artists than the recently-announced Edinburgh Festival. That said, it's noticeable that the BBC's own orchestras are padding out the season to an extent, particularly in August, and the famous Last Night is rather low-key, with David Robertson conducting and Sarah Connolly as the vocal soloist. As noted above, it's also disappointing that only three of Haydn's symphonies are featured in his anniversary year, and the reliance on Mahler, Shostakovich, Beethoven and Brahms symphonies is a sign of safe programming. Nevertheless, it's reassuring to see that in these difficult times for the arts, the Proms show no signs of dropping their artistic standards.

For last night of proms tickets, sports tickets, opera-ballet tickets, concert tickets, theatre tickets and exclusive event tickets in the UK and worldwide. Premier Events pledges to provide the cheapest event tickets on the net.No commission, transaction charges or hidden booking fees. By law, we must charge VAT, but the price you see is the price you pay.we ensure their safe and prompt delivery to our customer.
Buy last night of proms tickets with full trust!

Roger Wright

Roger Wright (born 1956, Manchester) is an English radio administrator and arts administrator. He is currently the Controller of BBC Radio 3 and Director of The Proms.
Wright was educated at Chetham's School, Manchester, and played the cello as a youth. He studied music at Royal Holloway College, University of London, and earned a B.Mus. in 1977. On graduation, he took a sabbatical year, 1977-78, as the elected President of the Student Union.
From 1978 to 1987, Wright worked at the British Music Information Centre, as librarian and manager, then as director. He served as a senior producer for the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1987 to 1989. He became the artistic administrator of The Cleveland Orchestra in 1989. He left his Cleveland post in 1992 for Deutsche Grammophon (DG), where he became an executive director and vice-president, and worked there until 1997.
In March 1997, Wright took up the newly created BBC post of Head of Classical Music, in charge of the BBC's orchestras, choirs, and bands. In 1998, he became Controller of Radio 3. During his Radio 3 tenure he raised the profile of jazz and world music, causing controversy among listeners. Other Radio 3 programming changes such as a perceived diminution of live music broadcasts have also attracted controversy. Wright was named Director of the BBC Proms in April 2007[9] and formally took up the post in October 2007, succeeding Nicholas Kenyon.
In 2002, Wright was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of Royal Holloway College. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Music and a Fellow of the Radio Academy. His publications include the volume New Music 1989, in collaboration with Michael Finnissy.
Wright and his wife Rosie, a yoga teacher, have two children.
For last night of proms tickets, sports tickets, opera-ballet tickets, concert tickets, theatre tickets and exclusive event tickets in the UK and worldwide. Premier Events pledges to provide the cheapest event tickets on the net.No commission, transaction charges or hidden booking fees. By law, we must charge VAT, but the price you see is the price you pay.we ensure their safe and prompt delivery to our customer.
Buy last night of proms tickets with full trust!

BBC Electric Proms

The BBC Electric Proms is a music festival run by the BBC held during October in London since 2006.
The name is taken from The Proms a classical music festival running since 1895 and maintains a few traditions from its counterpart such as the final night culminating in an interpretation of "Land of Hope and Glory". The musical performances at the festival typically involve Indie rock bands incorporating instruments outside of their usual arrangement, most commonly in the form of collaborations with the BBC Concert Orchestra.
Primarily the festival's headline acts play at The Roundhouse in Camden but events, which include a programme of film, are not limited to this venue. For example, acoustic events take place at Cecil Sharp House. In 2008 in acknowledgment of its status as European Capital of Culture, events were be staged in both Liverpool and London.