Proms 2018

[underthecountertenor]

the number of pieces is slightly inflated by Sarah Connolly performing 14 of them in one chamber concert alone.

...including 4 world premieres (2 by Britten)!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I forgot to include which pieces are commissions and which aren't in my own excel list, and I don't feel like diving into the BBC website again - has anyone looked into how the 50/50 thing is shaping up?

The website is very coy about the Proms commissions; a single sentence in the "New & Different" section simply says "42 premieres will be heard across the Summer" - but the only example of these it gives is the Swedish Chamber Orchestra Prom, in which five of the six living composers are chaps.

Further up the "page", in the section "Women Composers", it says that there are "22 women championed by the Proms this Summer". An interesting use of the verb - "championed" = "getting one work performed each".

Mr Sharp can sleep easily in his bed tonight.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

If the NYOGB gets what seems to be its annual date at The Proms this summer, then this looks to be the program, which will be at Symphony Hall, Birmingham on Friday, August 3:

Mussorgsky: Night on the Bare Mountain
George Benjamin: Dance Figures
Ravel: Piano Concerto For the Left Hand
Debussy: La Mer
Ligeti: Lontano

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
Sir George Benjamin, conductor
Tamara Stefanovich, piano

I would hazard a guess, they'll be playing different works at The Proms.

Your guess was wrong, Bbm - that's the exact programme they're giving in Prom 28 on Sat 4th August.

[Demetrius]

Further up the "page", in the section "Women Composers", it says that there are "22 women championed by the Proms this Summer".

Well, they champion Ethel Smyth with 8 Minutes of the Wreckers and Lili Boulanger, but those are hardly contemporary or new works, as is intended in regard to parity.

Ok, the picture might shift if one includes all new/newish works or all living composers, but keeping strictly to those works that are marked as BBC Commissions/Co-Commissions:

Female (9):

Meredith
5 Telegrams(22)

Eve Risser
Furakela (5)

Tansy Davies
What did we see

Jessica Wells
Rhapsody for solo oud

Lisa Illean
Sleeplessness … Sails (6)

Suzanne Farrin
New Work (10)

Laura Mvula
The Virgin of Montserrat (8)

Bushra El-Turk
Crème Brûlée on a Tree (5)

Nina Senk
Baca (8)


Male (6):

Bruce
Sidechaining

Farrington
Gershwincity

Foster
Fantasia on the young Musician Theme

Joby Talbot
Guitar Concerto (22)

Iain Bell
Aurora (17)

Philip Venables/Bartok
Venables Plays Bartok

I may well have missed one or two, though.

Actually, I expect it to shift, I think the commissions are the tool the BBC intends to use to achieve parity in regard to contemporary composers on the whole, since those are the works they have the closest control over.

[Prommer]

Here, here!!

Where, there?

[Andrew Slater]

Who knows? There may be a one-page concert listing, as in previous years; though the compiler can't be expected to produce it before the details are published.

If you click on the concert titles instead of Show more information you just get the details - no 'waffle'. One click per concert doesn't seem a lot these days.

Help might be at hand - I'm going to run the code I wrote last year, against this year's page later this evening, and see what happens. I prepared the blank page a few days ago.

Prom 53 seems to be missing from the RAH list as well, which is no better as regards 'clicking-through'

[french frank]

Help might be at hand - I'm going to run the code I wrote last year, against this year's page later this evening, and see what happens. I prepared the blank page a few days ago.

Prom 53 seems to be missing from the RAH list as well, which is no better as regards 'clicking-through'

Thanks Andrew. Good luck - the sidebar needs updating!

[Andrew Slater]

I'm amazed - I've just run it and it seems to have worked: will upload shortly

[Andrew Slater]

Done (E&OE)

The 'Jump to Prom' probably won't work properly yet, and there might be some 'features' as I've not checked it yet.

The page is here. (The link in this post, not the one in the earlier post, will land on the correct day during the Proms.)

[Bert Coules]

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned but why isn't there a "search by composer" facility on the Proms website? Or is there one and I'm looking straight past it?

The coverage of this year's festival on the BBC arts and entertainment news page is interesting - there's absolutely no mention of it.

Bert

[Andrew Slater]

There is a composer search - it's buried away a bit here. (You can get to it via the 'categories' tab on the main page.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Forgive me if this has already been mentioned but why isn't there a "search by composer" facility on the Proms website? Or is there one and I'm looking straight past it?

There is, Bert - but it's one of those "if you already know where it is, it's not too difficult to find" jobs.

On the home page, there's a black bar under "Proms" / "the world's grating Music Festival" - this bar has "Home", "What's On?", "Tickets Info" and "Categories": this latter is what you need to click on, whence you will be taken by the magic of the Interweb to a colourful panel, the first "item" on which is "Composers". Click on that and then have fun with the alphabet.

The coverage of this year's festival on the BBC arts and entertainment news page is interesting - there's absolutely no mention of it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There is a composer search - it's buried away a bit here. (You can get to it via the 'categories' tab on the main page.)

Like he said.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Done (E&OE)

The 'Jump to Prom' probably won't work properly yet, and there might be some 'features' as I've not checked it yet.

The page is here. (The link in this post, not the one in the earlier post, will land on the correct day during the Proms.)

Many thanks, and many more, Andrew!

[Andrew Slater]

Similar reaction here when it worked!!