No Berlin, no Vienna – it’s a poor BBC Proms

The 2023 BBC Proms, announced tonight, promises ‘a compelling line-up of international orchestras.’ The ones it lists are the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich.

This is the weakest guest list in decades. No Berlin or Vienna Philharmonic, though they were approached. None of the pace-setting US orchestras – LA Phil, Chicago, New York. No quirky Czechs or Poles, nothing from the Baltic (although the BBC Symphony Orchestra is conducted by two Finns).

BBC cuts, inflation, bad management and Brexit have killed the golden Proms.

Instead of major players, the Proms have invited Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra; Les Siècles and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra one of the city’s six orchestras that is not a world leader.

Meanwhile, the cheapest Proms tickets have shot up to £9. Not long ago you could hear the Berlin Phil for £5.

In the interest of fairness, we reproduce the press release in full.

The 2023 BBC Proms will run from Friday 14 July to Saturday 9 September 2023 comprising 84 Proms: 72 Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, six at venues across the UK, and the first weekend-long festival of Proms at Sage Gateshead
• The 2023 Proms features a huge breadth of programming; from Berlioz to
Bollywood, large scale symphonic and choral work to intimate chamber concerts
and exciting Proms debuts.
• The first ever weekend-long Proms festival rooted in the North-East launches at
Sage Gateshead, in a collaboration with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and
conductor Robert Ames. Family, orchestral and chamber concerts feature in a
programme that opens with the Proms debut of 2022 Mercury Award nominee,
Self Esteem.
• In addition to the weekend of Proms at Sage Gateshead, the Proms will take place
across all four nations of the UK; at Guildhall Londonderry, Aberystwyth Arts
Centre, Dewsbury Town Hall, Hall for Cornwall in Truro, Perth Concert Hall and
the Hippodrome in Great Yarmouth.
• Every Prom at the Royal Albert Hall and ‘Proms at’ chamber concert across the
UK will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3. For the first time, the majority of
concerts will be available on BBC Sounds for 12 months. BBC television and BBC
iPlayer will broadcast 24 programmes, including the First Night and Last Night of
the Proms, and these will be available to watch on iPlayer for 12 months.
• Across the season there is a wealth of opera and oratorio, with a complete
performance of Berlioz’s five act grand opera The Trojans and the highly
anticipated UK premiere of György Kurtág’s first opera, Endgame. Large-scale
choral repertoire features throughout the season, from Rachmaninov’s The Bells
to Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.
• The season features a compelling line-up of international orchestras, including
the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the
Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich.

• The Proms marks the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninov’s birth with 11 of his
works performed during the season. Other composer anniversaries include Dora
Pejačević, György Ligeti, Thomas Weelkes and William Byrd.
• 15 new commissions and co-commissions showcase the extraordinary range of
today’s orchestral composers.
• Sir Simon Rattle conducts two concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra:
Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 and Poulenc’s Figure humaine (with the BBC Singers),
and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri.

• The Proms continues its exploration of orchestral collaborations with non-
classical artists, including Rufus Wainwright, Self Esteem and Jon Hopkins.

• Lauded Indian singer Palak Muchhal joins the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra led by Michael Seal for a Bollywood Prom, writer and broadcaster
Stuart Maconie curates the first Northern Soul Prom, and fado comes to the
Proms for the first time with Portuguese singer Mariza.
• The BBC Orchestras and Choirs perform in 32 Proms, including 14 premieres. The
BBC Singers will perform at five Proms, including the First and Last Nights and a
Late Night Prom, showcasing their broad range of repertoire.
• Dalia Stasevska conducts the First Night, featuring pianist Paul Lewis and a world
premiere from Ukrainian composer Bohdana Frolyak. The Last Night of the Proms
will be conducted by Marin Alsop featuring cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and
soprano Lise Davidsen with a world premiere by James B. Wilson.
• The ever-innovative Aurora Orchestra returns to the Proms for its greatest
challenge to date: a dramatisation of the origins of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
followed by a performance of the piece, entirely from memory.
• The Proms continues its commitment to accessible ticket prices with seats from
£9 and half-price tickets for under-18s (plus booking fees) and Promming day
standing tickets at £8 (inclusive of booking fees).
International Orchestras

The season will see more international orchestras return to the Royal Albert Hall,
including the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer, with an ‘audience choice’
programme, in which the audience chooses and votes live from a list of 250 dances,
overtures, marches and symphonic movements. The Boston Symphony Orchestra under
Andris Nelsons performs two Proms, featuring two European premieres: Carlos Simon’s
Four Black American Dances and Julia Adolphe’s Makeshift Castle. Augustin Hadelich
performs with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich under Paavo Järvi, Kirill Gerstein performs
with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, Pekka Kuusisto
performs with Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and Raphaël Pichon conducts
Mozart’s Requiem with Pygmalion.
• Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (16 July and broadcast on TV)
• Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra (1 August and broadcast on TV)
• Budapest Festival Orchestra (12 & 13 August)
• Les Siècles (20 August)
• Boston Symphony Orchestra (25 & 26 August)
• Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich (30 August)
• Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (31 August)
• Pygmalion (7 September)