Stephanie Hughes introduces live coverage of the opening night of the 108th Proms season from London's Royal Albert Hall. This year's festival of classical music, comprising 73 concerts between tonight and 14 September, has a Spanish theme, reflected in tonight's programme by a first-night fiesta.

First Night of the Proms

BBC Proms 2002

Season 55

Charles Hazlewood introduces the first of 14 Promenade concerts to be broadcast by BBC4 from London's Royal Albert Hall. This evening Charles Mackerras, a revered interpreter of 18th-century music, conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in a performance of The Creation by Joseph Haydn, sung in German. Soloists are soprano Christiane Oelze, tenor Paul Groves and bass John Relyea. Among the guests joining Charles Hazlewood in the interval is Nicholas Kenyon, Director of the BBC Proms.

Opera star Denyce Graves makes her Proms debut in this concert of popular classics from London's Royal Albert Hall. The programme also features pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and includes music by Bernstein, Gershwin and Bizet, and concluding with Ravel's Boléro, all performed by the BBC Philharmonic under their new principal conductor

Gianandrea Noseda. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood.

The Nation's Favourite Prom

Live from the Royal Albert Hall in London, the first of this week's nightly visits to the Proms. The concert includes Bruch's popular first violin concerto, in a first half that opens with Berlioz's Overture Roman Carnival. The second half comprises Messiaen's L'ascension and Ravel's La Valse. Performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and violinist Kyung-Wha Chung, and conducted by her brother Myung-Whun Chung.

Rolf Hind is the soloist in the first of this season's BBC commissions, David Sawer's Piano Concerto, which is preceded by Elgar's In the South. After the interval, Ravel's Sheherazade features the Proms debut of mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. This is followed by Leonard Slatkin conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in his own selection of excerpts from Igor Stravinsky's original ballet music for The Firebird. Charles Hazlewood and his guests discuss the evening's music, while Clare Louise Stuart hears the views of the Prommers' Panel.

harles Hazlewood introduces tonight's Prom, live from the Royal Albert Hall in London. In keeping with the theme of this year's season, this concert has a predominantly Spanish flavour. The Orquestra de Barcelona make their debut appearance at the Proms with music by Manuel de Falla, Xavier Montsalvatge and Gerhard, with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore. Before the interval, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto features virtuoso Russian soloist Viktoria Mullova.  Lawrence Foster is in charge of the baton.

Charles Hazlewood introduces another in the series of traditional summer concerts from the Royal Albert Hall. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra perform Hans Werner Henze's Fandango, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 3 in C Minor with soloist Paul Lewis, and Symphony No 4 in F Minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The conductor's stand is taken by Paul Daniel.

The King's singers - tenor Paul Phoenix, counter-tenors Robin Tyson and David Hurley, baritones Gabriel Crouch and Philip Lawson, and bass Stephen Connolly - perform a unique blend of ancient and modem madrigals. Interspersed with songs from The Triumphs of Oriana - a 1601 collection in praise of Queen Elizabeth I - are seven new madrigals which have been specially commissioned from leading British composers and poets to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.  The concert is preceded by a film about the modern-day collaborations, and a conversation between Charles Hazlewood and some of those involved in the project.

Tonight's concert celebrates Glasgow-bom composer Oliver Knussen's 50th birthday with a performance of his two children's operas based on Maurice Sendak 's picture books Higglety, Pigglety, Pop! and Where the Wild Things Are. Knussen himself conducts the London Sinfonietta, of which he is the music director, and a star cast of singers which includes soprano Rosemary Hardy, mezzo-soprano Mary King and bass-baritone David Wilson-Johnson. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood, live from the Royal Albert Hall.

Richard Hickox conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Walton's Christopher Columbus Suite, then the BBC National Chorus of Wales and the London Symphony Chorus join in for Dvorak's Stabat Mater.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Philharmonia Chorus and the Geoffrey Mitchell Choir perform Arnold Schoenberg's Gurrelieder under the baton of Donald Runnicles, with soloists Christine Brewer, Jon Villars, Petra Lang, Philip Langridge and Peter Sidhom. Intoduced by Richard Coles.

Osmo Vanska's final Proms appearance as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as they tackle Sibelius's Tapiola, Mozart's Piano Concerto No 23, with soloist Stephen Hough, and Nielsen's Fourth Symphony (The Inextinguishable). Introduced by Charles Hazlewood.

Charles Hazlewood introduces the UK premiere of Per Norgard's Sixth Symphony, performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Thomas Dausgaard , while Nikolaj Znaider is the soloist in Carl Nielsen's Violin Concerto. The evening ends with a performance of Brahms's First Symphony.

Two leading Polish composers are prominent as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales play Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra and Szymanowski's First Violin Concerto, conducted by Tadaaki Otaka, with soloist Kyoko Takezawa. Plus Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole and Debussy's PremiÃ¨re rhapsodie.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra perform the world premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Uninterrupted Sorrow alongside Debussy's Prelude a L'Apres-midi d'un Faune and Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, conducted by Andrew Davis, with soloist Louis Lortie. The evening climaxes with Vaughan Williams's Job: a Masque for Dancing.

Gianandrea Noseda wields the baton for the BBC Philharmonic as they perform a double bill of Spanish operas:

Granados's Goya-inspired fantasy Goyescas and Ravel's bawdy comedy L'Heure Espagnole, about a Spanish woman's race against time. Introduced by Charles Hazlewood.

American trumpet virtuoso Wynton Marsalis celebrates the golden age of swing with the classic big-band sounds of Count Basie, Chick Webb and Duke Ellington.

Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at the BBC Proms

Stephanie Hughes introduces an evening of music by Vivaldi, including the Venice Baroque Orchestra's rendition of his Four Seasons.

Vivaldi at the BBC Proms

A special concert version of Oklahoma! performed yesterday at the Proms to celebrate the centenary of Richard Rodgers. This version of the classic Broadway musical features Maureen Lipman reprising her role from the recent National Theatre production, plus the Maida Vale singers. Conducted by David Charles Abell.

Oklahoma!

Live from the Royal Albert Hall , a concert by the celebrated Kirov Orchestra of St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre,

Russia. Conducted by the charismatic Valery Gergiev , the programme comprises major works by two of Russia's leading 20th century composers - Prokofiev's Piano

Concerto No 3 in C major, with soloist Alexander Toradze , and Shostakovich's Symphony No 4 in C Minor. Presented by Charles Hazlewood.

Live from London's Royal Albert Hall, Stephanie Hughes introduces a concert by one of America's most renowned orchestras, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who under the baton of their dynamic conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen are performing two choral symphonies.

Simon Rattle conducts an international line-up of soloists and choruses, along with the National Youth Orchestra, in a performance of Gustav Mahler's demanding Symphony No 8, the Symphony of a Thousand. This recording is presented from London's Royal Albert Hall by Stephanie Hughes.

Flamenco guitarist Paco Pena performs tonight as the annual Blue Peter Prom celebrates the colourful sounds of Spain. This evening's fiesta, at London's Royal Albert Hall, also includes contributions from violinist Chloe Hanslip, percussion quartet Backbeat, the Islington Music Centre Children's Choir, and the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Rumon Gamba.

BBC Proms 2002: Blue Peter Fiesta!

Live from London's Royal Albert Hall , Stephanie Hughes introduces the climax to this summer's 108th season of Promenade Concerts.  In the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks on America, the corresponding night in 2001 saw a changed programme reflect the sombre national mood, but this year the event's traditional patriotic fervour and high spirits should be returning in an evening celebrating both the Queen's Golden Jubilee and the centenaries of William Walton and Richard Rodgers.

Last Night of the Proms

The Proms season comes to a spectacular close as BBC1 takes over live coverage, introduced by Stephanie Hughes.

To mark the centenary of the composer's birth, Broadway star Audra McDonald sings some of Richard Rodgers' most popular show tunes. The evening concludes with the traditional celebrations as the audience in the Albert Hall are joined in song by the thousands attending Proms in the Park locations in London, Gateshead and Belfast.

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.

First Night of the Proms

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