| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 8-Sep-2012 Royal Albert Hall | Prom 76: A very special Last Night |
 The Last Night of the Proms isn’t really a concert at all; it’s two very different concerts put on one after the other. The first is something like what we’re used to from a Prom, with big-name soloists performing alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Chorus in world premières and classic works from the repertoire. The second is more of a pops concert, featuring the same orchestra, choir and soloists, but with classic British tunes on the programme, and singing along is highly encouraged.Read full review... | |
| 10-Sep-2011 Royal Albert Hall | Balloons, Lang Lang and Jerusalem: it must be The Last Night of the Proms |
 BBC Chris Christodoulou-1.jpg) The Last Night of the Proms isn't really a concert: it's more like going to the cast party for the Proms season. The choir, orchestra and a fair bit of the audience are in tail coats and brightly coloured evening dresses, there's an abundance of balloons, party poppers and things making rude noises, and the hall is transformed by the waving of literally thousands of flags (between numbers, of course, there's proper hush during the music). Not much point in doing a sober, serious, musicological review, then, so here are a dozen memories, in no particular order.
Read full review... | |
| 30-Jul-2011 Highclere Castle | Bangs for your Buck - The Battle Proms at Highclere Castle. |
 I have to confess that an event like this is not within my normal musical radar. My music reviewing and listening is predominantly serious classical, and most of it is for a specialist part of that wide repertoire. So it was a slightly brave, or foolhardy, idea to offer to review one of these musical spectaculars at my local castle. The Battle Proms have been going since 1997 and run at six well-known country house venues during July and August.Read full review... | |
