Press Information

Bringing the joy of classical music to as wide an audience as possible is an integral part of the Proms’ mission. For the first time ever the Proms is taking its successful chamber music series, established in 1996, across the UK, visiting all four nations. A diverse range of world-class soloists and ensembles will perform repertoire ranging from Haydn in Glasgow to Xenakis in Belfast. 

The Proms is also delighted to announce a new partnership with international music centre Sage Gateshead, which will host a main evening Prom conducted by Dinis Sousa with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and a large-scale choir of young singers from across the North-East (23 July). They will also be joined by members of the folk ensemble Spell Songs, who return to the Proms following their appearance at the Lost Words Prom in 2019. 

• Belfast
  MONDAY 18 JULY
  1.00pm–2.00pm • The Waterfront Studio, Belfast 
  Hebrides Ensemble 
• Gateshead
  SATURDAY 23 JULY
  7.30pm–9.30pm • Sage Gateshead
  Voices of the River’s Edge
  Spell Songs
  Royal Northern Sinfonia
  Dinis Sousa conductor
• Truro 
  MONDAY 25 JULY
  1.00pm–2.00pm • Hall for Cornwall, Truro 
  Alim Beisembayev piano 
• Bristol 
  MONDAY 1 AUGUST
  1.00pm–2.00pm • St George’s, Bristol  
  Alina Ibragimova violin 
  Cédric Tiberghien piano 
• London
  MONDAY 8 AUGUST
  1.00pm–2.00pm • Battersea Arts Centre, London 
  Members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra  
  Leif Ove Andsnes piano 
• Cardiff
  MONDAY 15 AUGUST
  1.00pm–2.00pm • Dora Stoutzker Concert Hall, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff 
  Carion Wind Quintet
• Liverpool
  MONDAY 22 AUGUST 
  1.00pm–2.00pm • St Georges Hall, Liverpool 
  Dudok Quartet Amsterdam 
• Birmingham 
  MONDAY 29 AUGUST  
  1.00pm–2.00pm • Bradshaw Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham 
  Claire Barnett-Jones mezzo-soprano 
  Simon Lepper piano 
• Glasgow 
  MONDAY 5 AUGUST
  1.00pm–2.00pm • Stevenson Hall, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow
  Trio Gaspard 

The festival is also proud to celebrate the wealth of world-class orchestras from across the UK. This summer we are delighted to welcome orchestras from Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gateshead, Glasgow, Manchester and Salford, as well as the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

The BBC has been educating, informing and entertaining the nation for 100 years. This summer, we mark the centenary of great British broadcasting and celebrate its transformative and far-reaching impact on the Proms and its audiences.  

As Henry Wood, founder-conductor of the Proms, said in 1927 when the BBC first broadcast the Proms

• Public Service Broadcasting – To commemorate the BBC’s 100th birthday, the Proms will present the world premiere of This New Noise, a multimedia commission from cult band Public Service Broadcasting, featuring audio and visual material from the BBC archives and performed alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Jules Buckley (30 August).
• Radio Orchestras at Home and Abroad – We also celebrate radio broadcast orchestras with 28 concerts featuring the BBC Orchestras as well as European counterparts such as the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (13 August), WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (21 August) and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (26 August).
• Partnerships across the BBC – The Proms will also feature extra-special concerts with Radio 1 Relax (16 July) for a stripped-back Late Night Prom of experimental collaborations, CBeebies (23 July) for an underwater family adventure, and the BBC Natural History Unit for our first ever Earth Prom (27 August).
• Open Music – There will also be an immersive Open Music Prom, devised and produced by a specially selected group of creative people from a wide range of artistic backgrounds who are taking part in the BBC Open Music scheme (1 September).
• Last Night of the Proms – The Last Night will host the world premiere of fast-rising British composer James B. Wilson’s 1922, commissioned to celebrate 100 years of BBC broadcasting – and more generally, a tribute to the age of recorded and broadcast music-making (10 September).

This year will see an increase in the number of Relaxed performances at the BBC Proms, both for families and as part of our core concert programme. These performances are designed to suit individuals or groups who feel more comfortable attending concerts in a relaxed environment. There is a relaxed attitude to noise and audience members are free to leave and re-enter the auditorium at any point. There will be chill-out areas where spaces are made for anyone needing a bit of quiet time before or during the performance.

• CBeebies – We are thrilled to announce our environmentally themed CBeebies Prom. Favourite CBeebies presenters will guide audiences through an underwater family adventure, combining ocean-themed music performed by the Southbank Sinfonia with a hunt for endangered sea creatures (Relaxed, 23 July). 
• Aurora Orchestra – Conducted by Nicholas Collon and presented by Tom Service, the Aurora Orchestra presents a Relaxed concert of Beethoven’s revolutionary Fifth Symphony, performed entirely from memory. This Relaxed Prom offers a chance to hear the Aurora Orchestra perform Beethoven's masterpiece – a highlight of their Prom the previous evening –  in a more relaxed environment (Relaxed, 3 August).
• Earth Prom – The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra will partner with the BBC’s Natural History Unit for our first ever Earth Prom, presented by Chris Packham. Taking audiences on a wondrous audio-visual journey through the diversity and richness of our planet, this family-friendly Prom features soaring scores from composers including Hans Zimmer and George Fenton and will celebrate the work of the Natural History Unit through the ages – from David Attenborough’s early adventures to the present (27 August).
• Royal Scottish National Orchestra with Nicola Benedetti – Star violinist Nicola Benedetti returns with Thomas Søndergård and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, this time as both soloist and presenter. This Relaxed Prom offers a chance to hear specially selected highlights of the music from their full-length Prom the previous evening in a more relaxed environment (Relaxed, 7 September).  
• Six Proms will be British Sign Language-interpreted. 

Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Proms marks 150 years since the birth of Vaughan Williams, who led the revival of British music in the 20th century. Popular favourites such as the soaring The Lark Ascending and the haunting Tallis-inspired Fantasia take their place alongside the visceral Fourth Symphony and the rarely heard concertos for oboe and for tuba.     

• Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (16 July) 
• Symphony No. 4 in F minor (19 July) 
• Silence and Music (22 July) 
• A Sea Symphony (Symphony No. 1) (27 July) 
• Rhosymedra; Variations for Brass Band (9 August) 
• Oboe Concerto (14 August) 
• Tuba Concerto (15 August) 
• The Lark Ascending (26 August) 
• Four Last Songs (Proms at Birmingham, 29 August) 

Ethel Smyth
This year the Proms continues its ongoing initiative to celebrate and showcase female pioneers from the past with two key 20th-century British composers. The remarkable career of Ethel Smyth – the first woman to be honoured with a damehood for her music, and whose ‘March of the Women’ was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in 1911 and became the anthem of the Suffragette movement – is highlighted throughout the season, with pieces including Glyndebourne’s landmark production of her opera The Wreckers.

• The Wreckers (24 July) 
• Concerto for Violin and Horn (25 July) 
• Mass in D major (20 August) 
• Lieder, Op. 4 (Proms at Birmingham, 29 August) 
• Piano Trio in D minor (Proms at Glasgow, 5 September) 

Doreen Carwithen
We also shine the spotlight on Doreen Carwithen, 100 years on from her birth. Admired by Vaughan Williams, Carwithen’s music will feature in a number of concerts, with performances of her String Quartet No. 2 and her overtures ODTAA (One Damn Thing After Another) and Bishop Rock. 

• Bishop Rock (27 July) 
• String Quartet No. 2 (Proms at Liverpool, 22 August) 
• Overture ‘ODTAA (One Damn Thing After Another)’ (10 September) 

George Walker
When George Walker died in 2018 at the age of 96, obituaries focused on his achievement as the first African American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. But the full story is even more compelling. Walker was a modernist of formidable intellectual and imaginative power who created music of urgent and uncompromising integrity.

• Variations for Orchestra (26 July) 
• Trombone Concerto (16 August) 
• Lilacs (2 September) 

Iannis Xenakis 
Born 100 years ago, Iannis Xenakis was a giant of 20th-century music who harnessed mathematical principles to create sonic worlds of breathtakingly imaginative abstraction. 

• Allegro molto; Akea; À r.; Ittridra (Proms at Belfast, 18 July) 
• Jonchaies (31 July) 
• O-Mega (2 August) 

César Franck 
One of France’s most significant composers of the Romantic period, César Franck is celebrated this Proms season in his 200th-anniversary year.  

• Violin Sonata in A major (Proms at Bristol, 1 August) 
• Symphony in D minor (25 August) 
• Grande pièce symphonique (28 August) 

Showcasing new works by established and emerging composers is at the heart of the BBC Proms. The range of commissioned work this year is wider than ever – Neset’s Geyser to the elementally charged ARCHORA from Anna Thorvaldsdottir and a major new work from Oscar-winning Joker composer Hildur Guðnadóttir. With 17 new commissions, this year’s diverse programme underlines the role of the BBC as the UK’s biggest commissioner of new music.

World Premieres

• Cassandra Miller Viola Concerto BBC co-commission (18 July) 
• Hildur Guðnadóttir new work BBC commission (20 July) 
• Sally Beamish Hive BBC co-commission (21 July) 
• Cheryl Frances-Hoad new work BBC commission (22 July)
• Julian Anderson Symphony No. 2, ‘Prague Panoramas’ BBC commission: world premiere of complete symphony (5 August)
• Gavin Higgins Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra BBC commission (8 August) 
• Matthew Kaner Pearl BBC commission (10 August) 
• Anna Thorvaldsdottir ARCHORA BBC co-commission (11 August) 
• Errollyn Wallen new work BBC co-commission (29 August) 
• Public Service Broadcasting This New Noise BBC commission (30 August) 
• Philip Glass No More, You Petty Spirits BBC commission (3 September) 
• Marius Neset Geyser BBC commission (3 September) 
• Betsy Jolas bTunes for Nicolas BBC co-commission (5 September) 
• James B. Wilson 1922 BBC commission (10 September) 

European Premieres

• Nicole Lizée Blurr is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes, BBC co-commission (29 July) 
• Hildur Guðnadóttir and Sam Slater Battlefield 2042 – suite (1 August) 
• Missy Mazzoli Violin Concerto, ‘Procession’, BBC co-commission (14 August) 

UK Premieres

• Hannah Eisendle Heliosis (13 August) 
• Mark-Anthony Turnage Time Flies, BBC co-commission (15 August) 
• Thomas Adès Märchentänze (26 August) 

London Premieres

• Aretha Franklin Prom Marking the 80th anniversary of the remarkable ‘Queen of Soul’ and civil rights campaigner Aretha Franklin, American singer Sheléa joins Jules Buckley and the Jules Buckley Orchestra for a deep dive into an inspirational, gospel-charged catalogue (22 August). 
• Proms and the ENO at Printworks London The spectacular space of Printworks London – printing plant turned club venue – hosts an immersive reimagining of counter-tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo’s album ARC, in a genre-defying Proms production featuring live painting by George Condo, soundscapes by Jason Singh, costumes by Raf Simons, choreography by Justin Peck and music by Handel and Philip Glass, who has composed a world premiere (3 September). 
• Cynthia Erivo: Legendary Voices With Tony, Grammy and Emmy awards to her name, British actress, singer, songwriter and producer Cynthia Erivo makes her BBC Proms debut, joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Edwin Outwater, in a performance celebrating legendary singers such as Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, Billie Holiday and Gladys Knight (17 July).  
• Gaming Prom For the first time ever the eclectic music of gaming will be explored in a Prom. Robert Ames conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a symphonic-scale sequence that takes in a mini history of gaming, from classical console games of the 1980s to the latest release in the Battlefield franchise featuring music from Hildur Guðnadóttir and Sam Slater, performed at the Proms in a European premiere (1 August). 
• Amjad Ali Khan This summer the Royal Albert Hall will be filled with the hypnotic tones of the sarod, a defining sound of Indian classical music. Amjad Ali Khan, one of the undisputed masters of the sarod, is joined by his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash for a celebration of this expressive and versatile instrument (21 August). 
• Marius Neset Norwegian virtuoso jazz saxophonist Marius Neset, who draws inspiration from artists as varied as Frank Zappa, Pat Metheny, Mahler and Messiaen, makes his Proms debut alongside his quintet with the world premiere of a major new work, Geyser (3 September). 
• The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee To mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the BBC Concert Orchestra will present a Prom celebrating the long and fruitful relationship between music and monarchy. The concert will feature works inspired by royal occasions reaching back to Elizabeth I, from Handel’s Water Music to Britten’s Gloriana to a new commission from British composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad (22 July). 
• Radio 1 Relax at the Proms The Proms partners with Radio 1 Relax for a late-night concert featuring a stripped-back, acoustic set with presenter Sian Eleri introducing a programme of new collaborations (16 July).  
• Public Service Broadcasting The cult band returns to the BBC Proms alongside Jules Buckley and the BBC Symphony Orchestra with its signature combination of live acoustic and electronic elements and archival material. They will present the world premiere of This New Noise, an album-length multimedia piece exploring the history and impact of public service broadcasting in celebration of the BBC’s centenary (30 August). 
• The South African Jazz Songbook Celebrated South African trumpeter, conductor and SAMA award-winner Marcus Wyatt leads the Metropole Orkest in a showcase of South African jazz. Vocalist Siyabonga Mthembu – lead singer of Shabaka and the Ancestors and performance-art band The Brother Moves On – makes a special appearance, together with Mercury Prize-nominated singer ESKA, double MOBO Award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch and Sons of Kemet tuba player Theon Cross (28 August).  

The Proms has a long history of encouraging and developing new talent. With more than 60 artists making their Proms debuts this summer, this vital part of the Proms mission is at the forefront of the 2022 season. 

Debut soloists include:  

• Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha soprano (15 July)
• Ben Goldscheider horn (25 July)
• Johan Dalene violin (26 July)
• Tom Borrow piano (31 July)
• Daniel Lozakovich violin (25 August)
• Ryan Speedo Green bass-baritone (2 September)
• Raehann Bryce-Davis mezzo-soprano (2 September)
• Anthony Roth Costanzo counter-tenor (3 September)
• Angel Blue soprano (8 September)

Debut conductors include:  

• Ariane Matiakh (21 July)
• Jordan de Souza (26 July) 
• Alice Farnham (30 July) 
• Daniele Rustioni (9 August)  
• Eva Ollikainen (11 August) 
• Klaus Mäkelä (12 August)  
• Santtu-Matias Rouvali (14 August) 
• Fabien Gabel (25 August) 

This season, the Proms looks beyond the piano and violin to concertos that explore more unusual, ‘Cinderella’ instruments. The 2022 programme includes performance of concertos for theremin, tuba, flute, oboe, horn, viola, harp, percussion and trombone, demonstrating the subtlety, range and depth of these instruments as well as the skill of their players, many of whom make their Proms debut as soloists.

Adam Walker flute
Huw Watkins: Flute Concerto
SATURDAY 16 JULY • 6.30pm  

Lawrence Power viola
Cassandra Miller: Viola Concerto
BBC co-commission
MONDAY 18 JULY • 7.30pm 

Catrin Finch harp 
Sally Beamish: Hive BBC co-commission
THURSDAY 21 JULY • 7.00pm   

Ben Goldscheider horn
Elena Urioste violin
Ethel Smyth: Concerto for Violin and Horn
MONDAY 25 JULY • 7.30pm  

Colin Currie percussion
Nicole Lizée: Blurr Is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes BBC co-commission
FRIDAY 29 JULY • 7.30pm 

Carolina Eyck theremin
Kalevi Aho: Eight Seasons (Concerto for Theremin and Chamber Orchestra)
THURSDAY 4 AUGUST • 7.30pm 

Tredegar Band with BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Gavin Higgins: Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra BBC commission
MONDAY 8 AUGUST • 7.00pm 

Tredegar Band
Music for brass band
TUESDAY 9 AUGUST • 10.15pm 

Nicholas Daniel, oboe
Vaughan Williams: Oboe Concerto
SUNDAY 14 AUGUST • 11.00am 

Constantin Hartwig tuba
Vaughan Williams: Tuba Concerto
MONDAY 15 AUGUST • 7.30pm 

Peter Moore trombone
George Walker: Trombone Concerto
TUESDAY 16 AUGUST • 7.30pm 

This summer will see a return to pre-pandemic repertoire of a scale ideally suited to the Royal Albert Hall.  

Verdi’s Requiem – On the historic First Night, the massed voices of the Crouch End Festival Chorus and BBC Symphony Chorus will come together to launch the 2022 Proms with this choral masterpiece (15 July). 

Smyth’s The Wreckers – Smyth’s psychological drama of ‘wrecking, religion and love’ is presented by the combined forces of Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Robin Ticciati (24 July).  

Brahms’s A German Requiem – The National Youth Choir of Great Britain joins the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for Brahms’s A German Requiem alongside a performance featuring Jennifer Walshe in her eclectic The Site of an Investigation, which deconstructs and reassembles the symphony as a work for our times (28 July). 

Puccini’s Il tabarro – Sir Mark Elder, the Hallé and RCM Opera Chorus bring Puccini’s atmospheric Parisian tragedy to the Proms with a cast including Natalya Romaniw (30 July). 

Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, ‘Resurrection’ – Sir Simon Rattle leads the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in the huge soundscape of Mahler’s Second Symphony with soloists Dame Sarah Connolly and Louise Alder (24 August). 

Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius – Elgar’s greatest choral work, a powerful musical statement of faith and wonder that the composer described as ‘the best of me’, is presented by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Hallé Choir and soloists Allan Clayton, Jamie Barton and James Platt (31 August) 

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, ‘Choral’ – Praised for the ‘special electricity’ of their 2021 Proms performance, the Chineke! Orchestra returns with its sister ensemble Chineke! Voices to give the annual Proms performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony – missing for the past two years owing to the pandemic – with conductor Kevin John Edusei and a line-up of ethnically diverse soloists (2 September). 

Beethoven’s Missa solemnis – Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and Monteverdi Choir in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (7 September)

Major international orchestras and ensembles return to the Proms this year.

The Proms welcomes the newly formed Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra as part of a European and US tour this summer (31 July). Brought together by the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and the Polish National Opera, the brand new orchestra led by Canadian-Ukrainian conductor, Keri-Lynn Wilson, includes recently refugeed Ukrainian musicians, Ukrainian members of European orchestras and some of the top musicians of Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odesa, and elsewhere in Ukraine. The Ukraine Ministry of Culture is granting a special exemption to military-age, male members of orchestras inside the country, enabling them to participate in a remarkable demonstration of the power of art over adversity. The Prom will be broadcast on BBC TV.

• Mahler Chamber Orchestra (7 August) 
• Oslo Philharmonic (12 August) 
• Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (13 August) 
• WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (21 August) 
• Australian World Orchestra (23 August) 
• Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (26 August) 
• Metropole Orkest (28 August) 
• Berliner Philharmoniker (3 September) 
• Philadelphia Orchestra (8 & 9 September)  

Star soloists include:  

• Cynthia Erivo (17 July)  
• Elizabeth Llewellyn (27 July) 
• Jennifer Walshe (28 July) 
• Natalya Romaniw (30 July) 
• Alina Ibragimova (1 August) 
• Patricia Kopatchinskaja (2 August)
• Leif Ove Andsnes (7 & 8 August) 
• Yuja Wang (12 August) 
• Benjamin Grosvenor (13 August) 
• Amjad Ali Khan (21 August) 
• Jamie Barton (31 August) 
• Nicola Benedetti (6 & 7 September) 
• Sheku Kanneh-Mason (10 September) 
• Lise Davidsen (10 September) 

Internationally renowned conductors include:  

• Sir Mark Elder (30 July)
• Ryan Bancroft (3 August)
• Marin Alsop (13 August)
• Sir Simon Rattle (24 August)
• Kevin John Edusei (2 September)
• Karina Canellakis (5 September)
• Sir John Eliot Gardiner (7 September)
• Yannick Nézet-Séguin (8 September)
• Dalia Stasevska (10 September)

BBC Radio 3 enables the festival to reach millions of people each year by broadcasting every concert live. Audiences also have ready access to the Proms through the BBC Sounds app, allowing them to engage with the festival anytime, anywhere. This year, 22 standout concerts will be broadcast on TV and BBC iPlayer, from the glittering First Night of the Proms, presented by Clive Myrie, and the world famous Last Night of the Proms, presented by Katie Derham, to performances from star soloists such as Nicola Benedetti and world premieres from Public Service Broadcasting and Anna Thorvaldsdottir. 

Presenters including Clara Amfo, Edith Bowman, Katie Derham, Sian Eleri, Jess Gillam, Georgia Mann, Clive Myrie, Chris Packham and Petroc Trelawny will guide audiences through this year’s celebration of live music-making.

15 JULY
Prom 1 • First Night of the Proms – Verdi’s Requiem
Broadcast live on BBC Two

16 JULY
Prom 2 • Sinfonia of London/John Wilson
Broadcast on BBC Four

Prom 3 • Radio 1 Relax Prom
Broadcast on BBC Four

17 JULY
Prom 4 • Cynthia Erivo Prom
Broadcast on BBC Two

22 JULY
Prom 10 • Music for Royal Occasions
Broadcast on BBC TV

23 JULY
Prom 12 • CBeebies Prom
Broadcast on CBeebies

27 JULY
Prom 16 • Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony
Broadcast on BBC Four

30 JULY
Prom 19 • Puccini’s Il tabarro
Broadcast on BBC Four

31 JULY
Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
Broadcast on BBC TV

1 AUGUST
Prom 21 • Gaming Prom
Broadcast on BBC Four

6 AUGUST
Prom 27 • National Youth Orchestra plays Danny Elfman, Gershwin and Ravel
Broadcast on BBC Four

7 AUGUST
Prom 28 • Mahler Chamber Orchestra plays Mozart
Broadcast on BBC Four

11 AUGUST
Prom 34 • Elgar’s Cello Concerto
Broadcast on BBC Four

12 AUGUST
Prom 35 • Yuja Wang plays Liszt
Broadcast on BBC Four

13 AUGUST
Prom 36 • Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Broadcast on BBC Four

22 AUGUST
Prom 47 • Aretha Franklin: Queen of Soul
Broadcast on BBC Four

24 AUGUST
Prom 49 • Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, ‘Resurrection’
Broadcast on BBC Four

27 AUGUST
Prom 54 • Earth Prom
Broadcast on BBC Two

30 AUGUST
Prom 58 • Public Service Broadcasting
Broadcast on BBC Four

2 SEPTEMBER
Prom 61 • Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, ‘Choral’, with Chineke!
Broadcast on BBC Four

6 SEPTEMBER
Prom 67 • Nicola Benedetti plays Wynton Marsalis
Broadcast on BBC Four

10 SEPTEMBER
Prom 72 • Last Night of the Proms
First half on BBC Two, second half live on
BBC One