BBC Proms Launch
Thursday 24 April 2014
The 2014 BBC Proms season has been announced, and the Royal College of Music is once again playing a starring role.
We’re delighted to be continuing our close association with the world’s biggest classical music festival this year. The RCM will once again be hosting a range of Proms Plus events, including a special Proms-related episode of BBC Radio 3’s In Tune on the opening night of Friday 18 July.
Also on offer throughout the summer are our RCM Sparks Summer Music activities - workshops and courses offering young people and families the opportunity to get closer to the music in the Proms.
RCM alumni are featured throughout the season from beginning to the end, with no fewer than six RCM graduates starring across the first and last nights. Prom 1 features RCM alumni Sir Andrew Davis as conductor and mezzo-soprano Catherine Wyn-Rogers & tenor Andrew Staples as soloists. This year’s Last Night of the Proms opens with the world premiere of Velocity, composed by recent RCM graduate Gavin Higgins, and features RCM alumna Elizabeth Watts as soprano soloist. And soprano Pumeza Matshikiza, another RCM alumna, is showcased as soloist in the Proms in the Park.
Other featured alumni include conductors Sir Roger Norrington and Sir Neville Marriner (celebrating their 80th and 90th birthdays this year, respectively), and perennial Proms favourite John Wilson. RCM vocal alumni starring as soloists this season include Sarah Connolly, Clint van der Linde, Andrew Kennedy, Gerald Finley, Ruby Hughes and Kitty Whately.
As always, music by RCM composers features heavily throughout the summer, with works by Bridge, Britten, Arnold, Vaughan Williams and Holst showcased alongside premieres from current professor Simon Holt and recent graduate Helen Grime.
And the War Elegy by RCM composer Ivor Gurney (whose original score is housed in the RCM’s Special Collections) will be performed in Prom 20 to mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War One.
Keep an eye on our News section for more Proms updates as the season progresses, and visit the BBC Proms website for details of all of this year's concerts.
