South West concert venue to host BBC Proms

The South West’s recently reopened concert hall Bristol Beacon is to host the region’s first ever full-scale orchestral concerts at the world-renowned BBC Proms.

Part of the recently introduced Proms Across the UK, Proms Bristol will see four concerts taking place over the August bank holiday weekend.

• The Virtuous Circle– Paraorchestra recast the traditional orchestral concert as an immersive experience, performing Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 from memory and on the move. Audiences are invited into the heart of the action to observe the perfect symbiosis of an orchestra, exploring the idea of the orchestra as the perfect embodiment of teamwork. Interspersed with new music from Ivor Novello Award-winner Oliver Vibrans, this world premiere is co-directed by Charles Hazlewood and Kyla Goodey with choreography by Tom Jackson Greaves. (Sat 24 Aug)

• BBC Singers at 100 – Celebrating 100 years since its formation, the BBC Singers performs a selection of a cappella masterpieces including Tavener’s Song for Athene and Britten’s A Shepherd’s Carol, led by Chief Conductor Sofi Jeannin. (Sun 25 Aug)

• Evelyn Glennie plays Jennifer Higdon – Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Kirill Karabits perform Tchaikovsky’s heart-on-sleeve Symphony No. 5, alongside Jennifer Higdon’s flamboyant Percussion Concerto with soloist Evelyn Glennie (Sun 25 Aug)

• CBeebies Prom: Ocean Adventure – Kwamé Ryan, the Southbank Sinfonia and Andy Day come together for a fun-filled CBeebies musical ocean adventure for all the family (Mon 26 Aug)

Todd Wills, artistic director at Bristol Beacon, says: “Being able to play host to the iconic BBC Proms is an enormous honour for us. Our beautifully transformed auditorium now offers some of the best acoustics of any venue in the UK, so to be able to use it for the greatest classical music festival in the world is an absolute dream come true.

“Part of our mission in our building’s once-in-a-generation transformation was to be able to offer an expanded orchestral programme, which is something we know our audiences want – we’ve seen unprecedented demand with sold out performances for our last three orchestral concerts.

“We are also determined to make our programme affordable and accessible for as many people as possible. The Proms brings with it fantastic exposure and focus to encourage people who might be new to going to live orchestral concerts, and the £8 ‘Promming’ tickets mean that price isn’t a barrier for people wanting to attend.

“The Proms was established well over a hundred years ago with the aim of making the best of classical music affordable to more people by replacing the priciest seats in the stalls with standing promenade tickets, hence the name.

The BBC Proms was established in 1895 by founder-conductor Henry Wood with an aim to bring the best in classical music to the widest possible audience.

The 2024 BBC Proms will run from Friday 19 July to Saturday 14 September. For those unable to get tickets to experience the concerts live,  every note will be broadcast on Radio 3and BBC Sounds, and  24 programmes will be available to watch on TV and BBC iplayer.