Proms 2024

[french frank]

Will alter this thread title but I wanted to make it recognisable so that I could move all the 2024 posts here.

[bluestateprommer]

The most likely candidate is... himself perhaps?

Indeed, that is how it turned out, with Sam Jackson now in charge of both R3 and The Proms. Jackson has evidently just made his first big public move on the latter (besides taking the lead post, of course), with the appointment of Hannah Donat as director of artistic planning for The Proms:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/hannah-donat-announced-as-director-of-artistic-planning-bbc-proms

Since this is an internal promotion, presumably the idea is for continuity, rather than an "outsider" to "disrupt" things, as the bio in the press release indicates 7 years' experience working on The Proms, clearly alongside David Pickard.

I wonder where Pickard will go next, since he seems too young to retire. The only big open artistic administrative posts that come to my mind, all on this side of the pond, are:
* general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago
* general director of Seattle Opera
* executive director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra

[french frank]

'Hannah has been Artistic Producer of the Proms for the last seven years.' So presumably she knows more about the Proms than Mr J. She'll be able to give him some guidance. Bit more here:

https://www.classical-music.uk/news/article/bbc-proms-appoints-director-of-artistic-planning

Indeed, that is how it turned out, with Sam Jackson now in charge of both R3 and The Proms. Jackson has evidently just made his first big public move on the latter (besides taking the lead post, of course), with the appointment of Hannah Donat as director of artistic planning for The Proms:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/hannah-donat-announced-as-director-of-artistic-planning-bbc-proms

Since this is an internal promotion, presumably the idea is for continuity, rather than an "outsider" to "disrupt" things, as the bio in the press release indicates 7 years' experience working on The Proms, clearly alongside David Pickard.

I wonder where Pickard will go next, since he seems too young to retire. The only big open artistic administrative posts that come to my mind, all on this side of the pond, are:
* general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago
* general director of Seattle Opera
* executive director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra

[Simon B]

Indeed, that is how it turned out, with Sam Jackson now in charge of both R3 and The Proms...

I may have got that bit right, but was dead wrong about the prospects for a shift in programming.

After n years of austerity, the 2024 programme is like someone found a few £M down the back of the sofa next to the "Encyclopedia of 20th Century Blockbusters".

Holst's Cloud Messenger, Turangalila, Busoni Piano Concerto, War Requiem, Glagolitic Mass, Shostakovich 4, Asrael, the splendidly OTT Wood orchestration of Pictures, Alpine Symphony, Zemlinsky Mermaid etc etc. Not to everyone's taste of course and a shift almost to the point of imbalance in favour of this sort of thing. Certainly a change though.

The Cloud Messenger is a particularly interesting one. As far as I know it has never been given a public professional performance anywhere. The LSO/LSC et al played it for the Hickox recording 35 years ago but that's it. Now it'll be getting two pro performances in about as many days! The first at the Three Choirs festival (Philharmonia et al) and then the Proms with BBCSO/Oramo etc days later. Then probably never to be heard again, which fate it doesn't deserve in my opinion, but oh well.

Good to see the BPO and the BRSO appearing along with some other visiting orchestras too.

Overall it looks like an outbreak of confidence contrasting with an overall rather fragile and imperiled scene in the UK.

[Though yes, there do look to be more non-classical events than ever...]

[bluestateprommer]

I may have got that bit right, but was dead wrong about the prospects for a shift in programming.

After n years of austerity, the 2024 programme is like someone found a few £M down the back of the sofa next to the "Encyclopedia of 20th Century Blockbusters".

Holst's Cloud Messenger, Turangalila, Busoni Piano Concerto, War Requiem, Glagolitic Mass, Shostakovich 4, Asrael, the splendidly OTT Wood orchestration of Pictures, Alpine Symphony, Zemlinsky Mermaid etc etc. Not to everyone's taste of course and a shift almost to the point of imbalance in favour of this sort of thing. Certainly a change though.

The Cloud Messenger is a particularly interesting one. As far as I know it has never been given a public professional performance anywhere. The LSO/LSC et al played it for the Hickox recording 35 years ago but that's it. Now it'll be getting two pro performances in about as many days! The first at the Three Choirs festival (Philharmonia et al) and then the Proms with BBCSO/Oramo etc days later. Then probably never to be heard again, which fate it doesn't deserve in my opinion, but oh well.

Good to see the BPO and the BRSO appearing along with some other visiting orchestras too.

Overall it looks like an outbreak of confidence contrasting with an overall rather fragile and imperiled scene in the UK.

[Though yes, there do look to be more non-classical events than ever...]

Given that this is David Pickard's last season as director of The Proms, maybe he felt freer to 'go for broke' as something of a final send-off, after something of a build-back-(better)-up of Proms audiences last summer. But that might not fully be the case, since plans for The Proms, at least in 'normal' years, happen something like 2-3 years in advance for the full-scale classical events, although the pandemic clearly scrambled all advance planning at the time. All that aside, there's plenty of core meat-and-potatoes repertoire, but also some off-the-wall selections buried in the mix.

It's interesting that the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is back right after last summer, since the pattern normally is for Bournemouth, the RSNO, and the Ulster Orchestra to feature at the RAH every other year. The RSNO is missing from this year's lineup, by contrast. For Bournemouth, clearly their Prom this summer is a final send-off for Kirill Karabits, his last Prom as their chief conductor. So I presume that the RSNO will be back next summer with Thomas Sondergard, where I wonder if his tenure there might be winding down, since the announcement of his most recent contract extension last year said that:

"Søndergård will remain in post throughout the 2024:25 Season, with a commitment to work together beyond that point."

With big works like Bruckner 5 (Petrenko / Berlin Phil) and Mahler 6 (SSR / Bavarian Radio SO; done Andante-Scherzo, as Rattle has always conducted it), both of those ensembles are touring with those works. The BRSO and Rattle are currently in the USA on tour with Mahler 6, and the Berlin PO and Petrenko are scheduled to tour the USA next year with Bruckner 5.

Some of the shorter concerts (BBC Singers & Sofi Jeannin at Bristol Beacon; Jakub Józef Orliński's late night Prom) look quite short on selections, but maybe more material to fill out the running times will be announced later. In any event, I should keep plenty busy with Calendar entries when the time gets closer .

[smittims]

According to a note by Christoper Palmer to the Chandos CD, Holst conducted the premiere of Cloud Messenger on 4 March 1913 in Queen's Hall. It may have been an amateur choir but surely it would have been a professional orchestra?

[AuntDaisy]

Oh well, from the listings, at least I don't have to worry about missing the Proms this year. Not that you can avoid the endless adverts!

Even French Frank's the sixteen Harry Christophers aren't tempting enough. Possibly the Purcell, Bach or a smattering of Late night Italian?

[Frances_iom]

thin gruel (some very short programmes) - with large amounts of 'junk' food replacing the previous good to high quality music - maybe 3 or 4 listenable to concerts for me.

[Andrew Slater]

Oh well, from the listings, at least I don't have to worry about missing the Proms this year. Not that you can avoid the endless adverts!

Even French Frank's the sixteen Harry Christophers aren't tempting enough. Possibly the Purcell, Bach or a smattering of Late night Italian?

Thanks for the link - the obvious link from the main BBC Proms page has omissions!

[Andrew Slater]

I've uploaded an initial single-page listing here. Indexes and pdfs to follow.

Beware of the sequence: Prom 22 comes before Prom 21! (Not my fault.)

Proms 34 & 63 are missing their contents. (My fault.)

[smittims]

At a quick glance I'll be listening to eighteen out of the 72 Proms this year, which is not bad considering the continued decline in the number of Proms with complete performances of major works of the core classical/romantic repertoire. Clearly the BBC wants the Proms to be a mix of classical, crossover and pop. Moreover, for a festival that is claimed to emphasise the new, vital and different, there's little here that I want to hear and can't hear already on CDs.

[Darkbloom]

I've uploaded an initial single-page listing here. Indexes and pdfs to follow.

Beware of the sequence: Prom 22 comes before Prom 21! (Not my fault.)

Proms 34 & 63 are missing their contents. (My fault.)

As always, thanks for doing this. I'm sure I'm just one of many who find this very helpful.

[Darkbloom]

I just glanced at the listings without wearing my glasses and saw something called 'The Sound of Disco'. Through my blurred vision I thought it said Daniel Barenboim was conducting. I nearly fell off my my chair. If that every happens then the apocalypse must be just round the corner.

[Norrette]

Having listening to the #R4Today interview this morning, I'm dreading looking at the schedule. Maybe just as well, although I can see from above the Petrenko Berlin Phil looks to be a must attend. Thanks to Mr Slater for early production of a usable list.

But I've just realised my May Saturday mornings from 9:30 am are booked up, so I won't be able to join in the click-fest until 1.30 pm ?Whichever day it happens, not sure if there's a way around this.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I just glanced at the listings without wearing my glasses and saw something called 'The Sound of Disco'. Through my blurred vision I thought it said Daniel Barenboim was conducting. I nearly fell off my my chair. If that every happens then the apocalypse must be just round the corner.

Well he did record a piano tango album. Is Disco musically inferior to tango?
I don’t think so - if anything it’s more harmonically inventive though it’s a very broad church.

As Simon B points out some intriguing blockbusters and excellent touring orchestras.
I’m not looking forward to the rock proms with orchestral arrangements . Those arrangements hardly ever work. Only a genius like George Martin really knew how to use strings in pop and rock - sparingly and for a particular effect. It dumbs down both classical and rock.
Now Petroc is playing a Nick Drake track as (yet another ) proms plug, I give up. Real bedsit and Nescafé stuff…
Why is the BBC wasting licence fee payers money on readily available
undemanding mass marketed pop on a channel that’s for classical music?

Why is the multi millionaire Sam Smith being given one penny of the tiny in relative terms Radio 3 budget ? I’d honestly rather they gave it to a group of school kids learning the piano.