2022 Proms Highlights
BY GEORGE ANDREWS
Once again, a few moments checking the schedules reveal a wide range music and NOT only performed in London’s Royal Albert Hall; other venues such as Gateshead, Bristol and Belfast are visited and best checked on the website(s) shown at the end of the list. For those unable or unwilling to hit the Town, here are some ideas for interesting or novel musical experiences.
*** Shown below, these asterisked Proms will be broadcast on BBC TV.
EVERY Prom will be live on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds [with 22 Proms on TV and iPlayer].
We can thank the Proms’ founder for bringing the best in classical music to the widest possible audience, which still remains true to founder-conductor Henry Wood's original vision in 1895. There are 72 performances this year.
First Night of the Proms 2022 - Friday 15 July 7.30pm ***
Verdi Requiem - In 1873, Verdi was moved by the death of the author Alessandro Manzoni to write a complete Requiem.
Saturday 16 July – 6.30pm ***
Ralph Vaughan-Williams – Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Edwards Elgar – Enigma Variations
Arnold Bax – Tintagel
Saturday 23rd July – 11 am and at 3pm ***
CBeebies Prom: A Journey into the Ocean... Join your CBeebies friends on a magical, ocean-going family adventure, for our very youngest listeners.
Tuesday 26 July – 7.30pm
Bernstein – Candide
Barber – Violin Concerto
Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 4 in F minor
Thursday 28 July - 7.30pm
Brahms – A German Requiem (a service of consolation from a composer without conventional religious faith).
Sunday 31 July - 11am
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra - Brought together by the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and the Polish National Opera, the brand-new Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra.
Including music by Chopin {Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor}, Brahms [Symphony No. 4 in E minor} and Beethoven {excerpts from Fidelio]
Sunday 7 August - 3pm ***
Mozart - The Marriage of Figaro – overture; Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor; Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major.
Sunday 7th August – 7.30pm
Mozart – including: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor.
Friday 12 August - 7.30pm ***
Programme includes Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, played by Yuja Wang (piano).
Sunday 14 August - 11am
Programme includes:
Haydn - Symphony No. 6 in D major, ‘Le matin’
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in B flat major
Tuesday 16 August - 7.30pm
Programme includes:
Copland - Appalachian Spring – suite
Prokofiev - Symphony No. 5 in B flat major
Sunday 21 August - 11.30am ***
Indian classical music with Sarod master Amjad Ali Khan - Combining the rhythmic energy of the guitar with the expressive, singing quality of the human voice, the sarod is its defining sound.
Saturday 27 August – 2pm and 7.30pm ***
The Earth Prom - This audio-visual journey features scores by composers including Hans Zimmer and George Fenton, and music from around the globe, as well as the sounds of nature, imagery and spoken word. A celebration of the BBC’s world-famous Natural History Unit. Chris Packham introduces.
Monday 29 August – 7.30pm
J S Bach – Mass in B Minor
Tuesday 30 Aug – 8pm
Public Service Broadcasting (Retro-futurist rockers!). This New Noise, a BBC commission: world premiere. Includes archive footage, dancing astronauts and a flashing, and a blinking Sputnik...
Wednesday 31 August - 7.30pm
Elgar – The Dream of Gerontius - he is about to witness wonders beyond any human imagination. Elgar said: ‘This is the best of me.’
Friday 2 September - 7.30pm
Beethoven – 9th Symphony in D minor, ‘Choral’ with the Chineke Orchestra (Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra.)
Sunday 4 September - 11.30am ***
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109; Piano Sonata No. 31 in A flat major, Op. 110; Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 with Sir András Schiff (piano): The final three piano sonatas, music of boundless imagination, profound tenderness and sudden, piercing beauty.
Saturday 10 September - 7.15pm ***
Last Night of the Proms
Two useful links:
https://www.classical-music.com/features/articles/bbc-proms-2022-full-concert-listings/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/by/date/2022