BBC Proms 2025 features first overnight Prom in almost half a century as part of an eight-week celebration of music

BBC News

23-04-2025

The 2025 BBC Proms season brings together many of the world's finest international artists and orchestras, featuring more than 40 outstanding ensembles from across the UK - a series of concerts that can only be experienced at the world's greatest classical music festival
The BBC's own orchestras and choirs form the backbone of the Proms, making nearly 50 appearances throughout the season. The BBC Singers will perform at 11 Proms, including the First and Last Nights, showcasing their broad range of repertoire.
Sakari Oramo conducts the First Night of the Proms, with tenor Caspar Singh, baritone Gerald Finley, violinist Lisa Batiashvili – including the world premiere of The Elements by Master of the King's Music Errollyn Wallen, commissioned by the BBC. The Last Night of the Proms will be conducted by Elim Chan and features trumpeter Alison Balsom and soprano Louise Alder, with two world premieres, by Camille Pépin and Rachel Portman: the latter being the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score.
The BBC Proms makes its debut in both Bradford, as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, and Sunderland, bringing the festival to new audiences. The Proms also returns to Bristol and Gateshead for two three-day weekend residencies, and a special Prom in Belfast marks the centenary of Radio 4's popular Shipping Forecast.
The season features a compelling line-up of international orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Major soloists include pianists Yunchan Lim and Sir András Schiff, violinists Hilary Hahn and Janine Jansen, and soprano Golda Schultz
Nineteen world, European or UK premieres will be performed, including 10 works commissioned by the BBC, showcasing an extraordinary range of contemporary composition.
Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Chineke! Orchestra for the first time, in their tenth-anniversary year.
Anna Lapwood co-curates the first overnight Prom since 1983, featuring pianist and YouTube sensation Hayato Sumino, cellist Anastasia Kobekina, the Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge and the boundary-crossing Norwegian ensemble Barokksolistene.
The Proms marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Shostakovich with eight of his works performed during the season, including Aurora Orchestra playing Symphony No. 5 entirely from memory. Other composer anniversaries include Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez and Arvo Pärt.
Legendary Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi makes his Proms debut, conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in his symphony inspired by the tragic events of Hiroshima: The End of the World.
Across the season there is a wealth of opera, including a collaboration between the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the ENO for The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Shostakovich – only performed in its entirety once before at the Proms. Glyndebourne brings their new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro to the festival, and Puccini's Suor Angelica is performed by the LSO with Chief Conductor, Sir Antonio Pappano.
Large-scale choral repertoire features throughout the season, from Ralph Vaughan Williams's rarely performed oratorio Sancta civitas on the First Night, to Striggio's Mass in 40 Parts from Le Concert Spirituel. There is also a Proms debut from Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra and Chorus, with Handel's Alexander's Feast.
The Proms continues its tradition of collaborating with other BBC brands. In addition to the 100 Years of the Shipping Forecast Prom in Belfast with the Ulster Orchestra and Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Claudia Winkleman hosts The Traitors Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, exploring themes of treachery and betrayal in classical music. Concerts for children include a new CBeebies Prom: A Magical Bedtime Story as well as the CBeebies Prom: Wildlife Jamboree in Gateshead.
The Proms continues to welcome non-classical artists, presenting their music in new orchestral settings – this year hosting the multi-Grammy winning musicians St. Vincent and Samara Joy. Trevor Nelson presents the Soul Revolution Prom and Anoushka Shankar makes a welcome return to the Proms with the world premiere performance of her new album.
Every Prom will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds. BBC Television and BBC iPlayer will broadcast 25 programmes, with nine Proms across BBC One and BBC Two, demonstrating the BBC's commitment to reach the broadest audiences for classical music.
The Proms continues its commitment to accessible ticket prices with seats from £10 and half-price tickets for under-18s (plus booking fees), and Promming day standing tickets at £8 (inclusive of booking fees).
Read more: The BBC Proms 2025 - Everything you need to know about the world's greatest classical music festival
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Full Season Information
There will be 21 visiting ensembles, with leading orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic with Franz Welser-Möst, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra with Andris Nelsons and violinist Hilary Hahn, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Klaus Mäkelä and violinist Janine Jansen, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with Robin Ticciati and soprano Golda Schultz, the Orchestre National de France with Cristian Măcelaru, and the Budapest Festival Orchestra with Iván Fischer, mezzo-soprano Dorottya Láng and bass Krisztián Cser.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra, led by Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo, performs in the First Night of the Proms alongside the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC Singers, tenor Caspar Singh and baritone Gerald Finley. In suitably celebratory fashion, the First Night opens with the Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood, composed by Sir Arthur Bliss, who died fifty years ago this year. Mendelssohn's overture The Hebrides follows, and the first half concludes with the Violin Concerto by Sibelius, performed by the revered Lisa Batiashvili. The world premiere of The Elements by Master of the King's Music Errollyn Wallen, commissioned by the BBC, opens the second half, and the concert closes with Ralph Vaughan Williams's Sancta Civitas, completed a hundred years ago.
The Last Night of the Proms features a stellar lineup of artists, with Elim Chan conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus and the BBC Singers, and trumpeter Alison Balsom and soprano Louise Alder leading the festivities. Classical music's biggest party will include two new commissions, by Camille Pépin and Rachel Portman: the latter being the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score.
The BBC continues to champion new music: 19 world, European or UK premieres will be performed, including 10 works commissioned by the BBC. British composers receiving premieres this season, in addition to Errollyn Wallen and Rachel Portman, include Tom Coult with his Monologues for the Curious performed by tenor Allan Clayton, Mark Simpson's ZEBRA (or 2-3-74; The Divine Invasion of Philip K. Dick) performed by guitarist Sean Shibe, and a new piece from Sir John Rutter, written for the BBC Singers. International composers Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Anthony Davis and Sofia Gubaidulina, who passed away in March this year, also receive premieres this season.
The Proms marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Shostakovich with eight of his works, including Aurora Orchestra playing Symphony No. 5 entirely from memory. Ensemble intercontemporain pays tribute to 20th-century giants Pierre Boulez and Luciano Berio, both of whom were born a hundred years ago, and there is a special Late Night Arvo Pärt at 90 Prom.
The first overnight Prom since 1983 is guest-curated by organist Anna Lapwood, and runs from 11pm to 7am. It features a captivating line-up of artists: pianist and YouTube sensation Hayato Sumino, cellist Anastasia Kobekina, the Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge and the boundary-crossing Norwegian ensemble Barokksolistene with their violinist/director Bjarte Eike, with more guests to be revealed soon.
There will be 14 Proms at venues across the UK, with three-day Proms weekends at the Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead and at Bristol Beacon, including a welcome return from Paraorchestra in collaboration with folk duo The Breath. There are first-time visits to Bradford, marking the city's status as 2025 UK City of Culture, with Grammy Award-winner and celebrated 'Queen of African Music' Angélique Kidjo, and to Sunderland for a special edition of the nightly Radio 3 jazz programme 'Round Midnight with Soweto Kinch. The Prom in Belfast with the Ulster Orchestra –100 Years of the Shipping Forecast – includes a new commission and performance from Poet Laureate Simon Armitage and his band LYR, presented in collaboration with Radio 4.
Sam Jackson, Controller, Radio 3 and BBC Proms, says: 'With 86 concerts across eight weeks, I am delighted to be announcing the 2025 BBC Proms season. Our summer of live music will see us host the greatest international orchestras and the best of British talent, in repertoire that ranges from the much-loved to the entirely new. World-famous soloists such as Hilary Hahn and Sir András Schiff sit alongside some of today's brightest young classical stars: from Yunchan Lim, to Aigul Akhmetshina, to Louise Alder, who performs at the Last Night of the Proms. As ever, every note will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds, with 25 programmes featuring across BBC TV and iPlayer. And with tickets for every Prom available from just £8, we look forward to welcoming concert-goers old and new to the magic of this unique and very special festival.'
The BBC Proms plays a central role in supporting British music, and this year there will be a televised Great British Classics Prom celebrating composers from Benjamin Britten, to Samuel and Avril Coleridge-Taylor, to Grace Williams. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Chineke! Orchestra for the first time, in their tenth-anniversary year; Rattle also conducts the wind, brass and percussion of the London Symphony Orchestra for a series of folk-song arrangements by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Percy Grainger and Malcolm Arnold.
Opera highlights include the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra collaborating with English National Opera under John Storgårds for The Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, by Shostakovich – only performed in its entirety once before at the Proms. In addition, Glyndebourne bring their new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer perform Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle, and the London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus are conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano for a concert performance of Puccini's Suor Angelica.
Choral music includes Ralph Vaughan Williams's Sancta Civitas, which closes the First Night of the Proms; Kahchun Wong making his first Proms appearance as the Hallé's newly appointed Principal Conductor with Mahler's Symphony No. 2; and Sir Mark Elder conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Delius's A Mass of Life. The award-winning Baroque dynamos Peter Whelan and the Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus make their Proms debut with Handel's Alexander's Feast, and Le Concert Spirituel performs Striggio's Mass in 40 Parts.
With themes of treachery, betrayal and deceit having run through classical music and opera for centuries, the Proms unveils a collaboration with The Traitors, as Claudia Winkleman hosts two very special concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. The Traitors Prom will feature a range of famous classical works, alongside new arrangements of some of the music from this hugely popular BBC programme.
Legendary Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi makes his Proms debut, conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in his symphony inspired by the tragic events of Hiroshima: The End of the World. The programme also includes Steve Reich's The Desert Music, a work not heard at the Proms for nearly 25 years. Fifty years after the death of one of Hollywood's most acclaimed composers, the BBC Concert Orchestra celebrates the great Bernard Herrmann with a special Prom devoted to his film scores, many of which saw Herrmann collaborate with the director Alfred Hitchcock – including Psycho and Vertigo.
The BBC Proms continues its tradition of orchestral collaborations with non-classical artists and tributes to different musical genres. Multi Grammy Award-winners St. Vincent and Samara Joy make their Proms debuts: St. Vincent performs brand-new symphonic arrangements of tracks from her back catalogue with Jules Buckley and his orchestra, and Samara Joy, who won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2023, brings her octet to the Proms to showcase iconic standards from the Great American Song Book with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Trevor Nelson presents the Soul Revolution Prom, which traces a path from spirituals through gospel to soul and reveals the role of these genres in supporting the Civil Rights movement. Sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar performs the world premiere of her new album Chapter III, alongside her previous albums Chapters I and II, with the London Contemporary Orchestra and Robert Ames.
More than 80 artists make their Proms solo debuts, showcasing an exciting range of musical talent. Among them are Canadian pianist Bruce Liu, who burst onto the world stage in 2021 when he won the International Chopin Piano Competition, and Bashkir mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina, who received widespread acclaim when, aged 21, she starred in the title role of Carmen at London's Royal Opera House in 2018. Akhmetshina sang Carmen last year at the Metropolitan Opera, becoming the youngest artist to have performed the role in both houses. The season is also packed with home-grown talent: Nicholas McCarthy, the world's only professional one-handed pianist, makes his Proms debut with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and conductor Mark Wigglesworth in Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand – in the composer's 150th-anniversary year. It will be the first time this concerto has been played at the Proms by a one-handed pianist since the soloist it was composed for, Paul Wittgenstein, performed it in 1932.
BBC Radio 3 will once again enable the festival to reach millions of people by broadcasting every Prom. Other BBC Radio networks will broadcast highlights. Twenty-five Proms will be broadcast on BBC TV and iPlayer with nine Proms across BBC One and BBC Two, demonstrating the BBC's commitment to reaching broad audiences for classical music. For the first time, two Proms in the North-East of England will be televised. Performed at the Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Robert Ames conducts the concert on Friday, with guest artists soon to be announced, and Dinis Sousa conducts Saturday's concert of works by Bach and Mendelssohn, both with the Royal Northern Sinfonia.
The Proms continues its commitment to accessible ticket prices, with Promming day standing tickets remaining at £8 (inclusive of booking fees), seats starting at £10 and half-price tickets available for under-18s (plus booking fees).
About the BBC Proms
As the world's biggest classical music festival, the BBC Proms offers eight weeks of world-class music-making from a vast array of leading orchestras, conductors and soloists from the UK and around the world. Across 86 concerts, the festival offers a summer of music that allows for the most diverse and exciting musical journeys.
One hundred and thirty years after it was founded, the driving factor in building a festival of this scale is to offer exceptional music-making at the lowest possible prices, continuing founder-conductor Henry Wood's original ambition of bringing the best classical music to the widest possible audience.
With every Prom broadcast on BBC Radio 3, available across multiple platforms and 25 Proms programmes televised on the BBC, the Proms reaches far beyond the Royal Albert Hall. This year's BBC Proms season runs from Friday 18 July to Saturday 13 September 2025.
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