What's On / Proms by Day
THURSDAY 20 AUGUST 2009
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- 4.45pm Proms Intro: Handel's Samson
- 6.30pm Prom 47: The English Concert
4.45pm Proms Intro
Join tonight's conductor Harry Bicket and musicologist Dr Berta Joncus for an introduction to Handel's oratorio Samson, with Catherine Bott.
Edited version broadcast on Radio 3 during tonight's first interval.
Prom 47: Handel - Samson
- Date Thursday 20 August 2009
- Time 6.30pm - c10.20pm
- Venue Royal Albert Hall
- Tickets £7 - £35 price band A or Prom for £5
- Broadcast at 7.30pm on BBC Four and live on BBC Radio 3.
Available on demand for the following week. - This programme is no longer available.
Based on Milton and miraculously composed within a month of Messiah (Prom 68), Handel's Samson opens with Israel's former champion blinded and imprisoned but ends in triumph as he topples the temple of Dagon down upon the feasting Philistines and, through his suicide, sets his people free.
In the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, the hero's heartbreaking lament over his lost sight, 'Total eclipse! No sun, no moon, all dark amidst the blaze of noon!' – gains added poignancy from the knowledge that Handel himself would soon go blind. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket makes his Proms debut conducting a starry line-up of British singers, several making their second appearance this season.
- Handel Samson (165 mins)
- There will be two intervals
- Susan Gritton Dalila
- Iestyn Davies Micah
- Mark Padmore Samson
- Neal Davies Manoa
- Christopher Purves Harapha
- Lucy Crowe Israelite woman / Philsitine woman / Virgin
- Ben Johnson Israelite man / Philistine man / Messenger
- The Choir of The English Concert
- The New Company
- The English Concert
- Harry Bicket conductor
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- BBC Proms 2009
- All Proms broadcasts - available for 7 days
2009 Calendar
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
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| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
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| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
| September | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
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