{"id":543085,"date":"2026-04-21T16:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543085\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:02:08","slug":"bbc-proms-to-celebrate-miles-daviss-centenary-and-250-years-of-us-independence-classical-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543085\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Proms to celebrate Miles Davis\u2019s centenary and 250 years of US independence | Classical music"},"content":{"rendered":"

The BBC has announced the 2026 Proms<\/a> season, the 99th under the broadcaster\u2019s control (the so-called Promenade concerts began in 1895). Seventy-two concerts in the Royal Albert Hall and 14 across the UK \u2013 in Bristol, Gateshead and, in a Proms first, Mold \u2013 will showcase a vast range of UK classical music talent.<\/p>\n

Sam Jackson, controller, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Proms, hailed a \u201ccreatively bold season that packs a punch when it comes to international orchestras and names\u201d.<\/p>\n

International soloists include star pianists Yunchan Lim <\/a>and Yuja Wang<\/a> (performing on the first and last night respectively) and legendary Argentine musician Martha Argerich<\/a>, who will be 85 when she steps on to the Albert Hall stage to play Beethoven\u2019s second piano concerto. Visiting orchestras include the Berlin Philharmonic<\/a>, the Munich Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Spanish National Orchestra (making its Proms debut) and the Freiburg Baroque orchestra, which will be conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Philharmonic with its outgoing conductor Gustavo Dudamel<\/a> are also among the international groups, and, making their first visit to the festival is New York\u2019s Metropolitan Opera\u2019s Orchestra with music director Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin, who will give two concerts, one an all-Strauss programme; the second pairing Saariaho and Mahler.<\/p>\n

Legendary \u2026 Martha Argerich will perform Beethoven\u2019s second piano concerto. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In the year that marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, American music and music-makers are a particular focus of the eight-week festival. An American Classics Prom will feature the music of Bernstein, Copland and Gershwin, and among the composers whose work will be premiered are US-born Wynton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery<\/a> \u2013 her cello concerto These Righteous Paths will be performed by Abel Selaocoe, and the US\/French composer Betsy Jolas, who will celebrate her 100th birthday after the UK premiere of her Tales of a Summer Sea.<\/p>\n

Beyond the core-classical programme, Miles Davis\u2019s centenary will be marked in a concert with US trumpet virtuoso Ambrose Akinmusire; other concerts will feature the music of Marvin Gaye and Alan Menken\u2019s Disney scores.<\/p>\n

Jackson acknowledged that this might not necessarily be a moment when all UK audiences were minded to celebrate the US. \u201c[But] we\u2019re not making a comment about any one ideology or any one president. We would be doing this no matter who was the president of the United States of America. I feel very strongly that we mustn\u2019t allow the geopolitical situation to stifle great music or to stop us telling stories about America\u2019s composers of the past and present.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzy Klein, the BBC\u2019s head of arts and classical music TV, added: \u201cAmerica has been an engine of enormous cultural influence and dynamism over 250 years \u2013 why would we not celebrate that? The Proms have always offered a space where people can get out of the nitty-gritty of what is occurring now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overt escapism will come in the form of a Bond and Beyond Prom, which will showcase the music of the 007 franchise and other classic spy stories. Another British invention, prog rock, will make its festival debut with the BBC Concert Orchestra performing arrangements of music by the likes of Genesis, Jethro Tull and Mike Oldfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for us to showcase a really exciting genre of music and to tell what is a really compelling British music story, as well as bring in new audiences,\u201d said Jackson.<\/p>\n

American classic \u2026 Jessie Montgomery whose cello concerto These Righteous Paths will be performed by Abel Selaocoe. Photograph: Jiyang Chen<\/p>\n

More new audiences will be sought in the families Proms, which this year includes a collaboration with CBBC\u2019s Horrible Science, co-hosted by \u201cAlbert Einstein\u201d and \u201cMarie Curie\u201d.<\/p>\n

Forty years after Paul Simon\u2019s landmark album Graceland, Ladysmith Black Mambazo will celebrate the classic recording in a late-night Prom with the Nu Civilization Orchestra; other anniversaries to be marked include Steve Reich and Gy\u00f6rgy Kurt\u00e1g \u2013 who celebrate their 90th and 100th birthdays this year, the centenaries of John Coltrane and Morton Feldman and, 200 years after its composition, Weber\u2019s opera Oberon will make its first ever appearance at the Proms.<\/p>\n

Despite a challenging year, Jackson and Klein said they were feeling \u201cbuoyant\u201d about the state of classical music at the BBC. \u201cLast summer, the Royal Albert Hall was filled to over 90% capacity every evening. Forty per cent of ticket buyers were first-time visitors to the Proms, and 40% were under 40,\u201d said Jackson. Viewing and listening figures on BBC Sounds and iPlayer were up 25%, added Klein, and there were 35m views across YouTube, TikTok and Facebook. \u201cWe\u2019re constantly evolving what the Proms is, what it looks like and how people can find it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Nick Mohammed will be one of the team of TV presenters. \u201cHe\u2019s got a genuine passion for music, as well as authentic knowledge and real warmth,\u201d said Klein.<\/p>\n

The first half of the Last Night programme will include two premieres \u2013 details to be announced \u2013 and something \u201camazing and exciting\u201d, promised Klein. But the traditional, and controversial, closing half hour of music remains in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a significant number of people for whom that element of the Last Night of the Proms is really important. There\u2019s an equally significant number who do not like that and would rather we do something different. Our job is to make sure that as far as possible, we cater for all audiences,\u201d said Jackson.<\/p>\n

But in a world in which the BBC\u2019s real-terms content budget has fallen by about 30% since 2010, \u201cwe already cannot always do everything that we did previously,\u201d Jackson continued. \u201cIt\u2019s incumbent on us to make sure that the money that we do have is absolutely focused on audiences and on giving people the kind of content that they don\u2019t get elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Promming tickets \u2013 standing in the arena or the gallery \u2013 remain at \u00a38, seated tickets start at \u00a312.20. General booking opens on 16 May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC has announced the 2026 Proms season, the 99th under the broadcaster\u2019s control (the so-called Promenade concerts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-543085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}