BBC Proms: Specials

Katie Derham looks back on another week of concerts from the BBC Proms, including soloist Mitsuko Uchida's performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4. Her studio guests include conductor Vasily Petrenko, and trumpeter Alison Balsom, and we spend 24 hours with violinist Daniel Hope on a whirlwind day.

Josie D'Arby and Zeb Soanes present highlights from the Last Night of the Proms celebrations around the UK, giving a flavour of the individual nations' unique concert events. Former Spice Girl Melanie C, Alfie Boe and violinist Jennifer Pike mark the return of the Scottish event to Glasgow Green. In Wales, set against the backdrop of Caerphilly Castle, featured performers include trumpeter Alison Balsom and West End stars John Owen Jones and Sophie Evans. Soprano Katherine Jenkins, violinist Chloe Hanslip and Lithuanian accordion player Martynas entertain the crowds gathered on the spectacular quayside at the Titanic Visitor Centre in Belfast, and in London's Hyde Park, Bryan Ferry, tenor Joseph Calleja and Nigel Kennedy provide added sparkle to the festivities, drawing this summer's Proms season to a close.

Joining Beethoven Unleashed, a year-long, BBC-wide marathon marking the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, a BBC Grand Virtual Orchestra made up of over 300 BBC musicians perform Beethoveniana by composer Iain Farrington, a brand new reworking of Beethoven’s nine symphonies commissioned by the BBC Proms to celebrate the opening of the 2020 Proms season. Farrington describes his work as 'taking Beethoven's music and putting it in a musical washing machine to see which colours run'. Director Toby Amies brings the music to life in this film, premiering exclusively on BBC Four, Choreographed by Cameron McMillan, starring dancers Emma Farnell-Watson and Joshua Smith together in their own lockdown bubble.

Celebrating cutting-edge classical works, presenter of Radio 3’s New Music Show Tom Service chooses his standout moments of premieres and commissions from this year’s Proms. All pieces respond to the world around us with joy, beauty and optimism. Highlights include Andrea Tarrodi’s atmospheric Birds of Paradise, inspired by footage from David Attenborough’s Planet Earth; Ukrainian composer Bohdana Frolyak’s spinetingling Let There Be Light, and Errolyn Wallen’s ecstatic new work The Whole World, for the National Youth Orchestra.

Unmissable Moments from the BBC Proms 2023 season. Take a whistlestop tour through eight weeks of world-class music making with standout performances from the spectacular array of superstar musicians who have graced the Royal Albert Hall stage this summer. This special programme is packed with some of the biggest tunes in classical music. Beethoven's biggest hits, memorable Mozart and a celebration of Rachmaninov sit alongside dazzling performances from the likes of Yuja Wang, Pekka Kuusisto and Isata Kanneh-Mason, while northern soul classics, jazz anthems and music all the way from Bollywood to Hollywood are given the symphonic treatment on the Proms stage. There really is something for everyone. An ensemble of this year’s Proms presenters brings us this celebration of the best of the best from the world's greatest classical music festival.