BBC Proms 2022 Programme Announced

The BBC Proms returns this summer, from 15 July to 10 September 2022, for its first full eight-week season in two years. The festival will see the return of international orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic led by Kirill Petrenko, the Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Australian World Orchestra led by Zubin Mehta.

Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra

The 2022 BBC Proms will also feature the newly formed Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra, led by Keri-Lynn Wilson, which includes recently refugeed Ukrainian musicians, Ukrainian members of European orchestras, and some of the top musicians from Ukraine. The Ukraine Ministry of Culture is granting a special exemption to military-age male members of orchestras inside the country to allow them to leave to perform.

First Night of the Proms features Freddie De Tommaso

The return to large-scale orchestral repertoire, not heard at the BBC Proms since 2019, begins on the First Night of the Proms with a performance of Verdi’s Requiem, featuring tenor Freddie De Tommaso and soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus led by Sakari Oramo. BBC Proms 2022 also includes performances of Mahler’s Second Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony performed by the Chineke! Orchestra and Voices under Kevin John Edusei.

Star soloists

Star soloists include Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Lise Davidsen featured in the Last Night of the Proms; Nicola Benedetti performing the Proms premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Thomas Søndergård; Yuja Wang playing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Klaus Mäkelä; Leif Ove Andsnes performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto Nos. 22 and 24 and choral music with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Benjamin Grosvenor playing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop; and Lisa Batiashvili performing music by Rachmaninov, Chausson and Saint-Saëns with The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Celebrates the centenary of the BBC

BBC Proms 2022 celebrates the centenary of the BBC with partnerships with BBC brands including Radio 1 Relax, CBeebies and the Natural History Unit, for the first ever Earth Prom, and a new commission featuring rare material from the BBC archive from cult band Public Service Broadcasting.

Includes the first ever Gaming Prom

The 2022 BBC Proms will also include the first ever Gaming Prom: From 8-Bit to Infinity, presented by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Robert Ames, who will explore the sound-worlds of video games; a showcase of South African jazz, featuring Mercury Prize-nominated singer ESKA and double MOBO Award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch; and Proms debuts from stars across a wide range of genres, including Tony, Grammy and Emmy award-winning singer Cynthia Erivo, and Indian sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan.

The festival will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ birth with performances of popular favourites, including The Lark Ascending, and rarely heard concertos for oboe and tuba.

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee will be marked by a Prom celebrating the relationship between music and monarchy.

The 2022 BBC Proms will premiere 24 new works, 17 of which are commissioned by the BBC, including a major new work by Oscar-winning Joker composer Hildur Guðnadóttir

TV presenters this year include saxophonist Jess Gillam who performed at the Last Night of the Proms in 2018.

Last Night of the Proms features Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Lise Davidsen

The season culminates in the celebratory Last Night of the Proms, led by Dalia Stasevska, featuring star soloists Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Lise Davidsen.

David Pickard, Director, BBC Proms, said, “It is a momentous year for the world’s largest classical music festival. I’m delighted that large-scale orchestral and choral repertoire will once again be heard in the Royal Albert Hall, and that we can celebrate the return of international orchestras. In the BBC’s centenary year, we can be proud that the Proms has been a part of the organisation for 95 of those 100 years, playing a key role in the Corporation’s mission to inform, educate and entertain. After two adapted seasons, we look forward to welcoming audiences back this summer for eight glorious weeks of music making.”

Every concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and available on BBC Sounds, and 22 Proms will be broadcast on BBC television and BBC iPlayer, including the First Night and Last Night of the Proms.

For further details of the 2022 BBC Proms click here.

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