Who is this woman?

[kernelbogey]

The photo itself looks to me more like five or six photos stuck together to make a whole. I'm sure Sir Andrew wasn't surrounded by three beautiful women and a warhorse in reality and I'm sure none of them were anywhere near the Albert Hall at the time. Perhaps our more expert photographers might like to have a look at what computerised jiggery-pokery has gone on here.

The camera, in this digital age, does lie.

Good point - the shadows don't look authentic.

[amateur51]

Good point - the shadows don't look authentic.

Oh The Shadows were authentic and hip before HIPP, surely.

That nice Mr Marvin frinstance

[kernelbogey]

Oh The Shadows were authentic and hip before HIPP, surely.

That nice Mr Marvin frinstance

But what about Livin' Doll?

[amateur51]

But what about Livin' Doll?

That was with The Young Ones most recently, surely?

[french frank]

I'm sure Sir Andrew wasn't surrounded by three beautiful women and a warhorse in reality

Isn't it Sakari Oramo? Or is Sir Andrew Aguecheek/Davis/Motion/Lloyd-Webber-as was hovering somewhere in the background?

[Nick Armstrong]

Isn't it Sakari Oramo?

Yes it is

[Petrushka]

Isn't it Sakari Oramo?

Sorry, it's blanked out and can't seem to find the original picture on the website. Now amended.

[french frank]

The two classical performers were in the same concert so could have had a promo photograph taken together. Katie Derham would have been pretty much around. Don't know about Paloma Faith. If it was photoshopped it's a good job, though in such bright sunlight I would have expected people to be squinting more ...

Well, here's the photo shoot. No sign of Paloma Faith ... It looks as if the green carpet has been altered to a neatly mown lawn :-)

[Richard Tarleton]

It looks as if the green carpet has been altered to a neatly mown lawn :-)

Yes Pet's suspicions re photoshop well founded - the green felt a bit of a giveaway. My expertise gained by looking over graphic designer's shoulder - they will have sampled a neatly mown lawn and shopped it in...

Not that it matters, nothing is as it appears these days, cheaper than laying turf

[Blotto]

Publicity pic of OAPs sitting on plastic picnic chairs, knotted hankies on heads, nodding away alongside an assortment of Glastonbury regulars, because 'Glastonbury is for everyone'.

Glasto, ff! Glasto!!

[Flosshilde]

expect Michael Eavis to announce he intends to build a small **** hotel in the corner of one of his fields for the over 60s who feel uncomfortable about staying in a tent with tens of thousands of teens and twenties in a muddy field. Publicity pic of OAPs sitting on plastic picnic chairs, knotted hankies on heads, nodding away alongside an assortment of Glastonbury regulars, because 'Glastonbury is for everyone'.

I think that there are a fair few OAPs going to 'Glasto' (sic) already (including the performers - Rolf Harris a few years ago, The Rolling Stones - who's collective age must be about 1000 years, Dolly Parton this year). Kate Moss (the model) pops up regularly, & she must be getting on a bit by now . There are an awful lot of people 60+ who still cling to the music of their youth.

[Blotto]

Try Prom 65

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/...ember-05/15108

Thanks for the pointer.

There have been plenty of young people at the Proms I've attended ...

Trying to attract young people to the Proms by having the likes of Paloma Faith, Pet Shop Boys, Laura Mvula and Jules Buckley (none of whom I'd previously heard of let alone encountered) is totally the wrong way to go about it, as if the Proms have no confidence in the 'product' they are trying to sell.

The BBC has kept faith (no pun intended) with the Proms for the best part of a century but nothing lasts forever and I can already see a marked decline. If care isn't taken that decline will accelerate.

I agree about the youthful membership of the audience. Though I'm middle-aged, cost tends to keep me to the gallery and there are plenty of teenagers there. When I look down, there is a good cross-section of ages in the audience as a whole though understandably fewer youngsters perhaps in the stalls than in the circle, arena and gallery.

I'm not sure about the object of pop's presence.

Nevertheless ... we have to accept that times have changed, particularly in the amount of music that's available to teenagers now and the position which classical music holds in their awareness and listening experience.

Put a 6 Music programme on Radio 3, for example: you will get some 6 Music listeners (not all!) coming over to listen to it. Of those, a few might venture to find out more, or hear the usual Radio 3 output by accident. Of those a few might be captivated and stay for more ... So 2 hours of Saturday Classics (and a special Prom last year) becomes a test case: how many of the 'mights' come to appreciate classical music? Anyone with an answer?

Late Junction was a similar experiment: it was to hook in a non-classical audience - not to widen the experience of Radio 3 listeners. Did it succeed? Look at Radio 3's listening figures since the programme was introduced over ten years ago.

Me, I've learned that the Pet Shop Boys aren't a boy band but a late-middle aged duo, and that Paloma Faith is a pretty mean (as in good, btw) song-and-dance hoofer. Both slightly unexpected hits with the younger audiences. But was that what the programmes were designed to achieve?

Well, perhaps there is an intention to extend the proms to be a broader 'art music' festival. The pop people aren't frivolous performers - Steps and Miley Cirus have yet to be invited - and Paloma Faith perhaps falls into a category of cabaret (I don't know but perhaps) which can be a dignified form. Oddball's itemisation of those present in the photo and what they represent does make a point.

I believe Caliban is on the right track in referring to the old war horse.

Although light hearted in nature, and the conductor certainly does not seem to mind being surrounded by beautiful women (there is hope for us yet!), I think this pic may have a deeper significance, in that it is a visual statement of the aims of the Proms, as formulated for 2014 by the Proms management. That is exquisite soloists, concertos etc, wonderful symphonic works, a "pop" element (Kiss me Kate, Laura Mvula), which inevitably introduces sex into the equation, and the presenter element as typified by Katie

I see your point. Paloma Faith - as I now know her to be - was a sore thumb in the line-up who'd baffled me since the spring.

My original query was simply about her stance and posture but her identity explains that, it seems. On the point of sex, though the form is different, we also have Salome in a few days, don't we, which is not without that element and I don't know that Laura Mvula introduces sex so much as the pop groomings may be suggestive of it to us old has-beens. ;)

Well, here's the photo shoot.

Ah, thank you. I have to say, some of the informal images have more life to them than the identity parade that was the end result.

[eighthobstruction]

There are an awful lot of people 60+ who still cling to the music of their youth.

....Ah I can't wait to see an Billy J Kramer tribute band....the world is sadly lacking without one....



....also the music of ones youth might be Chopin or Wagner....

[Blotto]

I think that there are a fair few OAPs going to 'Glasto' (sic) ... The Rolling Stones - who's collective age must be about 1000

It was pointed out to me recently that The Stones are older than Doctor Who.

[teamsaint]

I think that there are a fair few OAPs going to 'Glasto' (sic) already (including the performers - Rolf Harris a few years ago, The Rolling Stones - who's collective age must be about 1000 years, Dolly Parton this year). Kate Moss (the model) pops up regularly, & she must be getting on a bit by now . There are an awful lot of people 60+ who still cling to the music of their youth.

I guess I am still interested in some of the music of my youth. Seeing the (remains of) the Stranglers, (the first punk band I really loved) at the Proms with an orchestral backing didn't really impress me.
Seeing Hugh Cornwell (their original singer and major songwriter) at a small festival in a three piece band playing substantially newer material last week felt worthwhile, and altogether more enjoyable.

So you can rebrand till you are blue in the teeth, but a discerning audience KNOWS when it is being sold a pup.

Personally,I think that If you wanted to rebrand the Proms for a youth market, Malcolm Maclaren would have been the the best bet. Now HE could have done it, and boy would he have had fun......