{"id":839348,"date":"2026-08-02T07:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T07:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839348\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T07:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T07:24:18","slug":"bbc-proms-legendary-royal-albert-hall-event-offers-low-cost-london-thrills-in-troubled-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/839348\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Proms: Legendary Royal Albert Hall event offers low-cost London thrills in troubled times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"David<\/p>\n

August 2, 2026 \u2014 1:30pm<\/p>\n

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London: There\u2019s a buzz in the warm evening air as thousands of people stream onto the streets near Hyde Park and talk happily about the concert they\u2019ve just seen at a London landmark. We are outside the Royal Albert Hall a little after 9pm, a few minutes after sunset, and the cloudless sky is cornflower blue. I weave through the crowd to find some choir members who have just finished performing.<\/p>\n

This is the BBC Proms, one of the world\u2019s great music festivals, and tonight\u2019s concert was just one of 86 that will attract thousands this summer. \u201cWhen the Proms season comes, life changes; a kind of light comes into your diary,\u201d the BBC\u2019s David Attenborough<\/a> once said. I can see why his remark is quoted so often: it captures the audience\u2019s sheer enthusiasm for weeks of great music.<\/p>\n

\"LilianLilian (left) and Emily Harris of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, at the Royal Albert Hall after performing at the BBC Proms.David Crowe<\/p>\n

Over the past weeks and months, I\u2019ve been spending time on some of the unhappy aspects of British life. I\u2019ve met the marginalised people of Luton<\/a>, the frustrated voters of Wigan<\/a> and the angry protesters of London who want to stop migration<\/a>. It was time to enjoy some of the things that can make London life so wonderful.<\/p>\n

\"LastLast Night of The Proms: A quintessentially British experience.AP<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve just emerged from a concert where the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs joined the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and its Chorus in a performance of Harmonium by John Adams. This was another Australian coup \u2013the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra performed here last year \u2013 reflecting how orchestras and choirs from around the world want to be at the Proms.<\/p>\n

By the time the audience sings at the Last Night of the Proms on September 12, this year\u2019s festival will probably have reached an audience of 300,000 in person, in addition to several million viewers online and, on the famed last night, a television audience of 3.7 million. This British tradition is still going strong.<\/p>\n

\"SettingSetting for the Proms, London\u2019s landmark Royal Albert Hall.David Levene<\/p>\n

The first choir member I find is Joel Wilkinson, 24, a music teacher from Sydney. He\u2019s on a high after the performance because he has seen the Proms online but has never made it to England. \u201cTo get to be in that room and actually perform is … a pretty surreal experience,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Teresa Benton, 61, is a software developer who joined the Sydney choir only last year after moving from Melbourne. Raised in Glen Waverley, she sang for 36 years with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus and its predecessor, the Melbourne Chorale. \u201cTo be in the Royal Albert Hall is just something so special,\u201d she tells me. It took months of preparation and practice.<\/p>\n

\"TeresaTeresa Benton after performing at the BBC Proms. David Crowe<\/p>\n

Sisters Emily and Lily Harris say the work was intense. \u201cWe had about a month of rehearsals before the flight over, and quite intensive rehearsals,\u201d says Emily, a student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In Birmingham, before they got to the Proms, they rehearsed once or twice daily. \u201cIt was a lot \u2013 almost six hours sometimes,\u201d says Lily, a digital video director.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"People<\/a><\/p>\n

Will they get to enjoy London in summer? Not much. The choir has more performances coming up, so there is little time to relax. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got two brunches,\u201d jokes Lily. But the sisters can claim a rare family achievement: their grandmother, Sue, sang at the Proms as a member of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs; their father, Mark, performed there with the Australian Youth Orchestra. Who else in Australia can claim three generations at the Proms?<\/p>\n

As athletes are representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games, it seems appropriate for musicians to be doing the same at the Proms. Brett Weymark, the artistic director of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, says it\u2019s a fair comparison because the music festival attracts performers from around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly special that we\u2019re here this time because it has been the better part of 16 years since we were last here,\u201d he says. And he calls the work tonight, Harmonium, one of the most exacting pieces a chorus can perform. \u201cThis is Olympic-level choral singing,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat the athletes are doing in Glasgow, we\u2019re doing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SydneySydney Philharmonia Choirs musical director Brett Weymark.David Crowe<\/p>\n

Political life in Britain is riven with anxiety about the nation\u2019s economic and social problems, and it is not hard to see the divide between rich and poor. Life in London is easy for those with a club in St James\u2019s and a house in the country, but it can be crushingly hard for the working poor who get by on a minimum wage of \u00a312.71 per hour. (That\u2019s about $24, which is $2 less than the Australian minimum wage.) Going out can be a luxury.<\/p>\n

It does not have to be too expensive at the Proms, however. Every morning, people can buy \u00a38 tickets online for the arena and gallery at the Royal Albert Hall. This is standing room only for the \u201cPrommers\u201d \u2013 the dedicated audience members who stamp their feet when happy and yell out \u201cHeave\u201d and \u201cHo\u201d whenever a piano is wheeled on stage. More of that British tradition.<\/p>\n

Call me old-fashioned, or simply lazy, but I chose a comfortable seat instead, and I got even more comfortable after a G&T. The Prommers, in their shorts and joggers, or their summer frocks, seemed to be having more fun than the couple in the royal box. (No, not members of the royal family \u2013 just people with connections.)<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Leornard<\/a><\/p>\n

Even in these hard times, then, it is still possible to enjoy something that is quintessentially British, on a beautiful summer night, for the cost of a bus fare and an \u00a38 ticket. You can\u2019t see a Premier League match for that, nor a day of Test cricket at Lord\u2019s. No wonder everyone sings Land of Hope and Glory on the last night of the Proms.<\/p>\n

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\u2019s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"DavidDavid Crowe<\/a> is Europe correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 2, 2026 \u2014 1:30pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839349,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-839348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}