Prom 19 (31.07.20) Sondheim at 80

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Marking the 80th birthday in 2010 of one of Broadway's great innovators, this first ever Sondheim Prom drew together leading figures of the opera and theatre worlds, plus an array of special guests. Bryn Terfel had previously proved himself a magnetic Sweeney Todd in performances at London’s Royal Festival Hall in 2007.

Terfel led a strong cast, joined by aspiring young performers supported by the BBC Performing Arts fund. On the bill were excerpts from for horror opera Sweeney Todd, the Ingmar Bergman-inspired. A Little Night Music and the fairy-tale compendium of Into the Woods, as well as excerpts from Company, Pacific Overtures and Sunday in the Park with George.


Simon Russell Beale (vocalist)
Dame Judi Dench (vocalist)
Daniel Evans (vocalist)
Maria Friedman (vocalist)
Caroline O'Connor (vocalist)
Julian Ovenden (vocalist)
Jenna Russell (vocalist)
Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone)
Proms Sondheim Ensemble

BBC Performing Arts Fund Singers
BBC Concert Orchestra
David Charles Abell (conductor)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm not sure how the distinction is made between 'vocalists' and 'singers' here. Only Bryn Terfel is recognised as a singer, but I'd put Julian Ovenden in that bracket too. I know he's better known to most people as an actor, but he's a trained singer with a voice of real quality.

[bluestateprommer]

I'm not sure how the distinction is made between 'vocalists' and 'singers' here. Only Bryn Terfel is recognised as a singer, but I'd put Julian Ovenden in that bracket too. I know he's better known to most people as an actor, but he's a trained singer with a voice of real quality.

I understand intuitively what you mean about this distinction between 'vocalist' and 'singer', although I'm not sure that I can articulate it. But I'm going to be silly enough to try .

When it comes to popular music, or performers in a musical, I, at least, tend not to think of such singers like Julian Ovenden or Maria Friedman, or on this side of the pond, more recent Broadway stars like Leslie Odom, Jr. or Kelli O'Hara, in terms of their vocal register. The thinking with respect to artists like JO, MR, LOJr. and KO'H is in terms of them as singing actors, to put it one way. The contrast with "the classical world" is that the particular vocal registers of Bryn Terfel, Sarah Connolly, Mark Padmore, Elizabeth Llewellyn, etc. drive what repertoire and roles that they will focus on, repertoire and roles that fit their particular vocal registers. This is maybe one way to look at the distinction, certainly not the only one.

For this Proms revisit, I'll admit that I haven't listened to the whole thing again (except for "Everybody Ought To Have A Maid"), but I listened for which artist would be featured in the quarantine interview interval. Said artist turned out to be Maria Friedman, who shared a choice story about being in a performance with other Sondheim veterans like Elaine Stritch and Angela Lansbury, and a brutal heckling from an audience member that she somehow managed to get past that evening. BTW, if anyone wants to revisit the 2010 Proms fuller interval feature, with Sondheim, conductor David Charles Abell, and Petroc (the 2020 rebroadcast only has about half of the 2010 interval segment):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t1xnh