What's On / Proms by Day

For the first of its two concerts, the New York Philharmonic unveils a joint commission with the BBC by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky. 'Rhapsodies,' Stucky writes, features 'successive waves of ecstatic, extravagant expression that ripple outward from a single soloist until they involve whole sections of the orchestra. In this way it celebrates the brilliance of the New York Philharmonic musicians, both singly and collectively.'

Proms regular Jean-Yves Thibaudet is the soloist in Gershwin's Piano Concerto - every bit as toe-tapping and scintillating as his Rhapsody in Blue, completed the previous year. Lorin Maazel also conducts Stravinsky's great ballet score The Rite of Spring, an exploration of primeval Russian ritual - as shocking now as it was nearly a century ago at its riotous Paris premiere.