Live from London's Royal Albert Hall.

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa makes a rare appearance at the Proms to sing two romantic arias by Massenet, and octogenarian Russian pianist Tatyana Nikolaeva, making her Proms debut this season, plays Shostakovich's sparkling Piano Concerto No 2.

The bicentenary of Rossini's birth is celebrated with the overture to his best known opera, The Barber of Seville, and with Soirees musicales, a suite of some of his most beguiling music orchestrated by Benjamin Britten. Andrew Davis conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Last Night of the Proms

Live from the Proms

Live from London's Royal Albert Hall, the opening concert in the 98th season of Henry Wood Promenade Concerts. Almost 400 singers and players throng the stage to perform this mighty work. The line-up of international soloists - all of them making their Proms debut - is headed by the young American soprano Susan Dunn, already a leading Verdi exponent. The performance takes place in the presence of the Princess of Wales.

First Night of the Proms: Verdi's Requiem

The concert given earlier this evening in London's Royal Albert Hall featured two biblically inspired works.  Handel's Israel in Egypt is a vivid portrayal of the unjust imprisonment of the Jewish people described in the Book of Exodus. Alexander Goehr 's new work The Death of Moses views the Jewish prophet from the perspective of the late 20th century. In the interval, the composer, who celebrates his 60th birthday this year, talks about the land and poetry that inspired his latest piece.

From the Proms

The first in a Friday-evening series of outstanding concerts from this year's Proms features some distinguished visitors, the Cleveland Orchestra.

Over the last ten years a special rapport has developed between the Clevelanders, now America's most recorded orchestra, and their German conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi (grandson of the composer). Tonight they combine to perform one of the classics of the symphonic repertoire, Beethoven's Fifth. Before that they accompany the baritone Jose van Dam as he sings Mahler's sublime Ruckert Lieder, settings of verses by the German romantic poet Friedrich Ruckert.

Presented by James Naughtie.

Dohnanyi was recently nominated Conductor of the Year by the magazine Musical America for his "outstanding achievements with the Cleveland and his extraordinary contribution to the world of music". In the interval there is a feature on the orchestra's relationship with its local community.

Proms on One

An all-Bach programme given by Britain's pioneering period-instrument ensemble, the Academy of Ancient Music, conducted by Christopher Hogwood. Included are the Suite No 4 in D and the famous

Double Violin Concerto.

The Choir of New College, Oxford, conductor

Edward Higginbottom , sings the motet Komm, Jesu, komm, and in the second half joins forces with the Academy to perform the Magnificat in D.

Two acclaimed young Russian musicians join forces for

Brahms's Double Concerto-violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky and cellist Mischa Maisky , who has been described by Rostropovich as "one of the most outstanding talents of the younger generation of cellists". The Philharmonia Orchestra, playing under their new principal guest conductor Claus Peter Flor , opens the concert with Weber's overture to Der Freischutz.

Introduced by James Naughtie.

In the interval, the two soloists are seen together in rehearsal and in conversation.

The St Petersburg Philharmonic, despite its new name, is

Russia's oldest orchestra. In tonight's concert

Yuri Temirkanov conducts it in Berlioz's tempestuous overture The Corsair, inspired by Byron's pirate, followed by Sibelius's Violin Concerto in D minor, in which the soloist is the brilliant Maxim Vengerov , making his Proms debut nine days after his 18th birthday.

The programme is completed by Tchaikovsky's Manfred

Symphony, a portrait of another Byronic hero, a tormented outcast who finds solace in death.

Introduced by John Tusa.

Gershwin's extrovert

American in Paris is among the works that promise to make tonight's Promenade Concert one of the liveliest of the season. Also on the bill are

Milhaud's exuberant Boeufsur le toit and the world premiere of Richard Rodney Bennett 's Concerto for Stan Getz , the composer's tribute to the late jazz saxophonist, featuring John Harle as soloist. Introduced by James Naughtie , from the Royal Albert Hall in London.

The young German pianist Lars Vogt plays Grieg's popular Piano Concerto in A minor in tonight's Prom, recorded last week. The BBC Symphony Orchestra performs Hypothetically Murdered - a witty and satirical piece written by Shostakovich for a bizarre vaudeville extravaganza at the Leningrad Music Hall in 1931. Says conductor Mark Elder: "The full score was lost in the siege of Leningrad but Rozhdestvensky found some piano sketches and gave them to composer Gerard McBurney to orchestrate. We tend to think of Shostakovich as the anguished Soviet voice under Stalin but here he's a sort of Russian Offenbach, full of flair, fun and satire. This is a classic Proms item."

Introduced by James Naughtie.

Tonight's Prom forms part of the European Arts Festival, marking the UK's Presidency of the European Community.

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the Choral, with its concluding "Ode to Joy", adopted by the community as its anthem, is performed by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy. The Brighton Festival and London Symphony Choruses join soloists Margaret Price (soprano) from Wales, Martine Mahe (mezzo) from France, Jan Blinkhof

(tenor) from the Netherlands, and Kurt Moll (bass) from

Germany to complete a truly European line-up. The concert begins wth Elgar's epic symphonic study Falstaff

Christopher Cook introduces the concert and, in the interval, looks at the ideas behind the European Arts Festival.

The traditionally festive finale to the Proms season. In this second half Kiri Te Kanawa sings a trio of operatic arias including Ebben? ... Ne andrb lontana by Catalini, familiar from the film Diva.

As always the musical celebrations reach a climax with Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No 1, Wood's Fantasia on British

Sea-Songs, Arne's Rule, Britannia!and Parry's

Jerusalem. Before that, there are overtures by Brahms and Sullivan, and Peter Maxwell

Davies's Orkney Weddingwith Sunrise featuring George McIlwham on bagpipes.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the BBC Singers are conducted by Andrew Davis , who says: "I always enjoy a knees-up but, as well as having a party, we try on the last night to reflect the eclectic nature of the whole season. I think tonight's programme is suitably diverse but also full of energy and joie de vivre."

Introduced by Richard Baker.

The first performance of James MacMillan 's Veni, Veni Emmanuel, composed for the deaf percussionist

Evelyn Glennie , recorded at this year's BBC Proms. With the Scottish

Chamber Orchestra, conducted byJukka-Pekka Saraste.

A Concerto for Evelyn

The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival.  The BBC Proms is a classical music festival held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and in recent years has explored an innovative series of Proms around the UK with concerts in all four nations. Its aim: to bring the best in classical music to the widest possible audience, which remains true to founder-conductor Henry Wood’s original vision in 1895.  Whether you are a classical connoisseur or think classical music isn’t for you, there is something for everyone in the eight-week stretch of concerts.

Last Night of the Proms

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