The 2016 Proms Season: what are your thoughts?

[mrbouffant]

This promises to be a vintage year surely?

I guess it depends what floats your boat. For me there are 4 or 5 concerts which look interesting, the rest is fairly 'meh'

[Tevot]

I guess it depends what floats your boat. For me there are 4 or 5 concerts which look interesting, the rest is fairly 'meh'

admittedly a very Russian theme this year. Boatloads of Tchaikovsky for example. I remain optimistic

[mrbouffant]

admittedly a very Russian theme this year. Boatloads of Tchaikovsky for example. I remain optimistic

Good idea. Usually I feel deflated every year after the Guide is published but still end up enjoying myself throughout the season, learning new repertoire along the way...

[Suffolkcoastal]

At a glance through there is absolutely nothing of interest at all to me and I feel totally deflated, and depressed, far too much Mahler yet again. I think the Proms for me is now officially a waste of time. At least I can save money and have recorded music to keep me company.

[Anastasius]

My first reaction after a cursory glance is "wow". There's at least 15 concerts featuring large scale choral works or operas. Crikey - Alexander Nevsky followed by Boris Gudonov the next day and then the day after by a Haydn Mass and Faure's Requiem... Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Choral Symphony featuring within the first fortnight... Rossini x 2, Bach's B Minor, The Makrupulos case ...

And heck the Dvorak Cello concerto coupled with Duke Bluebeard...

I'm in a state of disbelief bordering on euphoria.... This promises to be a vintage year surely?

Best Wishes,

Tevot

There's quite a few weekends I'd like to go down and very tempted with Bluebeard. I'm not a great fan of opera in the RAH preferring to see opera in its pure form - scenery, staged, costumes, the full works - but Bluebeard works OK I think in the RAH. Plus the chords from that wonderful organ as the door is opened................

[bluestateprommer]

Is it as good as Andrew's (assuming he was contemplating one this year)?

IMHO, yes. It's very convenient and presents the core information quite well on one webpage.

One of many nice touches to this Proms season is how the CBSO Prom features their new music director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, less than a year after she appeared on the orchestra's radar. She even managed to slot in an appearance in the Proms launch video. Given the time scale on which classical music planning works, she's doing a good job of hitting the ground running, in terms of her profile in the UK and the CBSO's. This is just one example of the care that's gone into the season.

[Petrushka]

I got my Proms Guide yesterday at Foyles in the RFH.

A much, much better season this year. I struggled to find much of interest last year but now have the opposite (and more usual) problem. Looks like the office will have to survive without me for the first week of September

[Sir Velo]

There's quite a few weekends I'd like to go down and very tempted with Bluebeard. I'm not a great fan of opera in the RAH preferring to see opera in its pure form - scenery, staged, costumes, the full works - but Bluebeard works OK I think in the RAH. Plus the chords from that wonderful organ as the door is opened................

My favourite 20th century opera - not least because it fits on one CD.

Do we know yet who the Judith and Barbe-bleu will be?

[Darkbloom]

At a glance through there is absolutely nothing of interest at all to me and I feel totally deflated, and depressed, far too much Mahler yet again. I think the Proms for me is now officially a waste of time. At least I can save money and have recorded music to keep me company.

I do that almost every year - glance through the guide and hardly see anything of interest - but then I look again a few days later and change my mind. I usually attend at least six concerts in even the least promising seasons. Mahler just happens to be popular so there doesn't seem much point complaining about it. If you programmed an endless series of obscure composers then you'd be playing to tiny houses. This annual gripe about the Proms not being tailor-made for the wishes of a particular listener threatens to get a bit tiresome.

[french frank]

My favourite 20th century opera - not least because it fits on one CD.

Do we know yet who the Judith and Barbe-bleu will be?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/en65v2

[verismissimo]

... the CBSO Prom features their new music director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, less than a year after she appeared on the orchestra's radar...

But nothing coming yet in Brum... or have I not noticed?

[Sir Velo]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/en65v2

Ta, muchly.

At least the accents should be authentic!

[jean]

Thursday August 25th, the RLPO with Petrenko:
Prom 53 Vasily Petrenko conducts Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto, with soloist Truls Mørk, and Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 3. But before that, there’s the world premiere of Emily Howard’s Torus.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Plus the chords from that wonderful organ as the door is opened................

The only thing is that for me the organ always seems to rumble rather than roar. Are they afraid they might demolish the place? If so, just once, please....!

[Richard Barrett]

Certainly nothing tempting as far as I'm concerned. The "contemporary" music seems particularly unimaginatively programmed - unless I'm missing something it's all fairly MOR stuff.