No Berlin, no Vienna – it’s a poor BBC Proms
NewsThe 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)
Yer man in Ryan air says UK will end up paying into EU for a Norway deal, he says Ryan fork out loads for Visas for their pilots, just to fly folk in. No wonder orchestras cannot travel any more, the cost is prohibitive.
Sorry but I disagree. “None of the pace-setting US orchestras…. .” Boston is and long has been such an orchestra.
Maybe you need to realize that there are other good orchestras out there other than those named. Budapest is very good and so is Zurich.
This is only a disaster in your mind.
Well said, sir! The Berlin orchestra with Jurowski and an interesting programme is preferable to VPO with Welser-Most in Bruckner. The Budapesters are in the same league and the last time Ivan F did the audience choice it was a joy. Also the prices go up for Berlin & Vienna. Interesting that one of the highest ticket prices is a BBCSO orchestra concert because it is YUJA (Norman’s favourite). Good to see Makela is preparing for this concert by doing Belshazzar’s Feast twice in Paris!
Here is one of the Berliners’ concerts at Berlin Musikfest which they aim to sell 3 times 14/15/16 September
maybe the Proms were offered this and felt the KURTAG Endgame already programmed was enough Kurtag for one year?
Concert Programme
Iannis Xenakis (1922 – 2001)
Jonchaies
for large orchestra (1977)
Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905 – 1963)
Gesangsszene (1962/1963)
for baritone and orchestra to words from Sodom and Gomorrah by Jean Giraudoux
Márton Illés (*1975)
Lég-szín-tér
Commissioned by Berliner Philharmoniker Foundation, funded by Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung
World premiere
György Kurtág (*1926)
Stele op. 33 (1993/1994)
their other concert might also not have appealed to the Prom planners (to be fair Widmann does perform QUITE a lot in the UK already, esp SCOTLAND)
Concert Programme
Jörg Widmann (*1973)
Con brio
Concert overture for orchestra (2008)
Violin Concerto No. 2 (2018)
Fantasie
for clarinet solo (1993)
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809 – 1847)
Symphony No. 5 in D minor op. 107 “Reformation” (1829/1830, rev. 1832)
Looking at the list of organizations further, to me what is surprising is the lack of Scandinavian forces. Where are Oslo, Malmo, Sweden in general, and Iceland? These, to me at least, are in the forefront of classical music today.
Only if you hang on to the misguided idea of Berlin and Vienna as being the origins of all good in classical music, is this otherwise a shocker.
Times have changed and I think for the better.
Fair enough, though I guess the 32 performances by the BBC forces (more than usual? I don’t quite remember) will be welcome news in certain circles…
Indeed not a very exciting list.
In the interest of fairness? Since when was this site influenced by that? How is it the BBC’s fault that Vienna and Berlin aren’t coming. And have you noticed the UK suffering from massive inflation. And you expect prices to remain the same as years ago.
Never mind that the site led to LHR charge to end touring by orchestras due to climate change.
As I said a few days ago. This site is completely bipolar.
Slim pickings this year. Andras Schiff playing Bartok 3rd concerto is top of my list.
Good news for the remaining secondary orchestras.
It shows that London can do without support from Berlin and Vienna – isn’t that what Brexit wanted to achieve?
The LSO is definitely as good as anything coming from Vienna and even Berlin.
you must be joking and Simon Rattle? Anyhow this PROMS program is a continuation of the mediocre offer of BREXIT Britain – shame
Quite so – and Les Siecles, BFO and the Sinfonia of London all easily outclass anything that Vienna has to offer.
No it isn’t.
Have heard Bartok’s Third Concerto played by Piotr Anderszewski. Phenomenal! Would be probably less expensive than Schiff, as slimmed budgets go.
And it is the BBC Proms paid for by the BBC and Brits, and the television licence. It is not akin to the Met and the philanthropy. We as a nation can’t be expected to keep and pay for the BBC Singers if you then bring hoards of people across the Atlantic or elsewhere when we are fighting climate change, a cost of living crisis. Time to tighten up and cut one’s coat according to one’s cloth. There are some very nice concerts coming up, and something for everyone, including two major operas, oratorio, Bollywood to bring in an our Asians and some more pop concerts, plus concerts in other parts of the UK to bring in new audiences.
A propos of not very much…. I thought the Brexiteers wanted to do without support from the EU….. seems rather unfair to single out Berlin and Vienna…?
I was hoping there was no John Wilson, but unfortunately there is. The BBC must be obsessed with him as it’s every year (vomit). And your favourite couple, Ken Doll and Miss Sequin have lowered their expectations by performing with a BBC orchestra, maybe they’ll dress down, appropriately in jeans and t-shirt to be loosened off later outside Harrods.
Thankfully Andrew Davis makes a return, but unfortunately in Deryck Cooke’s messed up crash bang wallop Mahler 10. Everytime it gets played Mahler can be heard screaming and writhing from across the Dolomites.
Just another nail in the coffin.
And on the up side, the relaxed prom makes a comeback, whatever it is. You might get to see Andris Nelsons eating posh burgers and fries.
Again, exactly the unmitigated nonsense you except from someone with this pen name. If you don’t have any musical appreciation level, resort to body shaming
well Nelsons is starting to look like Orson Welles
“Unvaccinated” – why am I not surprised…?
Could this be irony?
About time you kept up to speed then. ‘Relaxed’ is there for our autistic, disabled, and similar people that can now enjoy a concert with their disability without the ‘tut-tuts’ from those who think they are musically and behaviour-wise somewhat superior. ENO are doing the same. Nothing about anyone eating burgers.
You are welcome to your opinion re. John Wilson.
I personally, generally love the stuff he does with the JWO … but last year I also remember his conducting of the Enigma Variations as being a highlight for me.. so he isn’t a one trick razmataz pony!
In any case, your “(vomit)” comment is really unneccessary and shows you up no end.
You don’t have to have the VPO or Berlin Phil at the Proms to make it noteworthy. The Budapest , Boston and lea Siecles are three of the finest orchestras and we’re lucky to have them play in London at the Proms.
A crisis only in your head. The Vienna Philharmonic is certainly no better than 5-6 orchestras in Europe. The Boston Symphony is the best US orchestra apart from Cleveland. New York is certainly inferior to Boston but also to the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich…….
Years ago my record collection would have contained quantities of LPs from the Big 5 American orchestras plus several others like the St Louis and the Detroit. Right now, these orchestras are only pace-setters in their own states, largely due to the fact that their Musicians Union has priced them out of the market.
What is happening in France and Scandinavia is much more interesting. In the former case, you are not only getting the superb HIP ensemble Les Siecles but the brilliant Pygmalion under Raphael Pichon, with, I hope, the beautiful Sabine Devieilhe.
Cadogan Hall seems to do rather well with fewer than 1,000 seats and generally limited resources:
Flanders Symphony Orchestra
Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Dresden Philharmonic
Orchestre de l’Entente Cordiale
China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra
Strasbourg Philharmonic
National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Basel Chamber Orchestra
Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
OK, no VPO or Berlin, but the orchestras above seem to be able to overcome our travel difficulties.
So far as the BBC is concerned, the first paragraph of a Guardian article suggests shifting priorities: “For the first time in its history the BBC Proms season will be opened and closed by female conductors, as the festival moves towards gender equality”.
If you’re seriously more excited by the LA Phil or the Vienna Philharmonic (surely the most consistently disappointing Proms guest of recent years) than by Les Siecles or the Budapest Festival Orchestra, I respectfully suggest that you haven’t been to enough live concerts in the past decade.
Enjoy! It may be the last such Proms. If all the performing groups are to be preserved in aspic, to satisfy the protests of an unduly influential minority, then the BBC classical music budget savings are perhaps only achievable by significant cuts to future years’ Proms.
I see that the London Monday chamber recital series has gone this year.
No high profile US orchestras in the Proms this season = better blame Brexit.
Loonies.
Brexit has never affected American orchestras coming here. Far more to do with cost not Brexit.
The usual irrelevant whining from this source, as every year, and as predictable as Santa Claus on December 6….However, it’s a fascinating program, with a range of diverse music and artists like nowhere else within 6 weeks… Am i the only one remembering NL whining we never would experience the Proms again in 2020? Promising he would never take anything for granted again?… As shortlived as most New Year resolutions
Yes, I’m looking forward to the eight or none concerts I’ve chosen, and travelling down from the north to London.
Definitely a bit unfair. Boston under Nelsons is doing very well. Les Siecles are always worth hearing. The Berlin RSO under Jurowski has become very good indeed and Jurowski remains a great conductor. And so on….
I wonder why and who are interested in such poor advertising before event? Or, maybe it is the best advertising in modern timesHow people can enjoy if the level told to be poor…?
I wouldn’t turn up one’s nose at the Deutsche Philharmonie Bremen. They gave a most memorable “Eroica” at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival some years back while Vienna Phil gave the Proms a dull Schubert 9 last time I was in London (2009).
Completely agree! Their Beethoven cycle under Paavo is one of the most vibrant I’ve heard. Top rate musicianship in that group, and excellent organization principles.
£8 – if you get to bottom of the press release.
Mostly it’s £10
local Prommers can see 71 concerts for the same cost as 2 Last Night top-price seats:
thus less than £4 a concert
visitors to London can get a WEEKEND pass: 4 concerts for £26
Frequent Prommers can save money by purchasing a Whole Season or Weekend Pass.
Proms Season tickets are valid for the Whole Season (14 July – 9 September) Proms 1–71 (excluding 10, 11, 25 and 62) across our Arena and Gallery for £250 per pass.
Whole Season ticket-holders benefit from:
• Guaranteed priority access to a Promming ticket every day of the season to the standing places in the Arena or Gallery (excluding Proms 10, 11, 25 and 62 for the 2023 season)
• Great savings on individual ticket prices – it works out at just £3.73 per concert!
• Admission to the world-famous Last Night of the Proms
Yes, exactly.
I have the book, and Promming/Standing tickets for any concert is £8, and pay as you go. A season ticket brings that down. The cheapest seat, probably for all BBC orchestra concerts, is £9. As has always been, each concert is marketed a different price depending who is in it. Budapest Orchestra is upwards of £14.
Hopefully, some of these visiting orchestras will be able to pop into Edinburgh for the Festival as well.
In days of yore, the publication of the Proms guide was an annually anticipated event. I would sit down and plan my summer around the concerts I really wanted to attend. I think over 35 years of attending Proms, I have heard some of the best music making I will probably ever hear alongside some of the worst. I will happily forget being showered in Ben Heppner’s spittle throughout Les Troyens and wearing my raincoat in the auditorium because of that (owing to being too close to the rail). 35 years ago I travelled London zones 1-4, bought a Prom ticket and a programme and still got change from £5.00 – total bargain. A couple of years I could not decide what not to go to so bought a season ticket, was lucky enough to have a friend that wanted a flat-sitter for their pad in the adjacent Albert Mansions. What a treat!
So, this year might not have Berlin or Vienna but so what? It was not that long ago that HvK in his infinite wisdom as Europe’s Music Director refused every invitation to bring the Berliners anyhow. Let’s take what there is and enjoy it. If you don’t, then stay home and stream something else, play a CD, vinyl or whatever takes your fancy.
£5 thirty-five years ago is roughly equivalent to £17 today. Flat-sitting costs about the same! However, you’re correct. Unless you qualify for a 60+ Oyster card it would be a bit of a challenge to achieve the same today.
The Berlin Phil played two concerts last year. Nevertheless, you labeled the 2022 season as dull… What exactly do you want?
Ohhhh, so everything that isn’t Vienna or Berlin is not worth it?? How on Earth is a list contaning the Budapest Festival Orchestra,Tonhalle, Les Siecles and Boston “weak”?
Just a little heads-up: It’s the year 2023 and there are fantastic orchestras all over the world, from the USA to Japan. It’s not only Vienna and Berlin, thankfully.
Jeez.
There really should be an anti brexit Prom……oh wait, there is!
See you on the Last Night, folks 🙂
Not a particularly fair description of the Boston Symphony Orchestra which has always been one of America’s top five and certainly outranks LA and even New York, let alone Budapest and Tonhalle.
If you don’t rate the LSO, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the BSO amongst the world’s very best orchestras you haven’t been paying attention.
What the hell are you talking about, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and boston are second to non, and they both created some of the best recordings to ever be made in the classical music world.
Most notably, Budapest with ivan fischer and schiffare the best combination to ever exist to preform bartok, which they do in the proms.
Also gardiner is conducting an opera, what more could you possibly ask for.