First Night of the Proms

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Duration: 1 hour, 59 minutes

The 118th season of BBC Proms gets underway at the Royal Albert Hall with a spectacular concert of all-English music. In the year of the London Olympics there is something of a relay race around the podium with no less than four conductors passing the baton in the course of the evening - Sir Roger Norrington, Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner and Martyn Brabbins. Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel is the soloist in Delius' evocative Sea Drift, and a quartet of Proms favourite singers feature in Elgar's Coronation Ode - Susan Gritton, Sarah Connolly, Robert Murray and Gerald Finley. Elgar's effervescent Cockaigne Overture, Tippett's Suite for the Birthday of Prince Charles and a brand new virtuosic curtain-raiser by Mark-Anthony Turnage complete the programme. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus take their traditional place on stage for a special First Night.

Credits

Series Producer
Francesca Kemp
Conductor
Edward Gardner
Conductor
Roger Norrington
Conductor
Mark Elder
Conductor
Martyn Brabbins
Actor
Susan Gritton
Actor
Sarah Connolly
Actor
Robert Murray
Actor
Gerald Finley
Actor
Bryn Terfel
Director
Jonathan Haswell

Broadcasts

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