Proms 2017

[teamsaint]

In a series of around 60 concerts,with quite a number of unavoidable constraints such as available performers, requirement to have some sell outs and heavy ticket sales, etc etc,it is probably pretty difficult to set up a programme that deviates all that much from the norm.
But there surely must be room for a little more creative programming, themes and so on. There are just too many important areas of repertoire that are sadly neglected ,that could be integrated into the existing kinds of concerts without losing core audience,scaring off interested newcomers, whatever. A season with an american strand, ( not the usual suspects) just as one suggestion, coupling some less familiar but significant works, ( EG a Schuman symphony) with some more familiar crowd pullers on the same programme .

[Pulcinella]

I wonder how much time the orchestras (and choruses etc) spend on the new works/commissions/first UK performances, etc? Perhaps that limits the ability to have much other than fairly standard fare in many of the concerts? And sadly I suspect that a Schuman symphony is unlikely to be in many US orchestras' repertoire, so we get token contributions such as Lincoln Portrait, instead. Not that playing such a piece should be only their domain!

That said, here in Casa Pulcinella we probably listened to more concerts this year than previously, but that could be because we didn't go away on holiday this year!

[alywin]

Selling arena tickets online, in advance, is surely part of this strategy and the Guardian writer seems to have missed this point.

Except that they did it last year as well.

In times long past, the Proms queue was an important part of my summer social scene, and I still attend intermittently. I know of many friendships, relationships, and marriages formed (and unformed!) there. I'm sad to see it's demise.

Me too, although I'm hoping that it's more temporary than actual demise.

I seem not have engaged with the Proms as much this year compared to previous years

Oh, so it's not just me and my particular circumstances.

[bluestateprommer]

Not that anyone might be paying attention, but for convenience, here's a compiled list of the 2017 (mostly) Proms repeats that R3 is doing for the holiday / end of year time:

18 Dec: Prom 49 - JSB St. John Passion, Dunedin Consort ('remixed' version, so to speak)

20 Dec: Prom 25 - Schutz & JSB, Monteverdi Choir / JEG

21 Dec: PSM 1, July 2012 (!!!) - JSB The Art of Fugue, AAM & Mahan Esfahani

22 Dec: Prom 73 - JSB, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I; Sir Andras Schiff

25 Dec: Prom 35 - Oklahoma!

26 Dec:
(a) Prom 8 - Celebrating John Williams
(b) Proms at...Wilton's Music Hall

27 Dec:
(a) Prom 13 - 'Malcolm Sargent's 500th Prom'
(b) Prom 67 - 'Mendelssohn Matinee' (BSP's moniker for this Prom, not the BBC's), Freiburg Baroque Orchestra / Isabelle Faust / Pablo Heras-Casado

28 Dec:
(a) Prom 71 - Stravinsky - Funeral Song, DSCH 11 et al., LPO / Jurowski
(b) Prom 62 - Chineke!

29 Dec:
(a) Prom 27 - 'Ella and Dizzy: A Centenary Tribute'
(b) Prom 41 - Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar, 'Passages'

31 Dec:
(a) Prom 74 - VPO / MTT
(b) Prom 75 - The Last Night

1 Jan 2018: Mahler 6 - VPO

Somewhat mixed bag of choices, at least based on Forum chatter. Curious final selection, though, to start 2018, so to speak. The JSB-heavy emphasis in the first week of repeats is likewise curious, but in a good way. Anyway, it is what it is, plus the BBC would never let an American anywhere near being Controller of the Proms anyway :) .

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

"Paying attention" to the point of adding that the "Wilton's Music Hall" Prom on Boxing Day, given by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, includes Molly's Song 3 a work by Rebecca Saunders, whose 50th birthday today has been mentioned elsethread.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The JSB-heavy emphasis in the first week of repeats is likewise curious, but in a good way.

There is a mini JSB Fest ongoing on R3 with which the choice of these Proms has presumably been chosen to fit in.

[seabright]

Pulcinella's mention of Proms commissions makes me wonder if anyone has ever compiled a list, covering say the last 25 years, and noting which of them have never been played again after their first and only performance.