Tickets for the BBC Proms go on sale at 9am on Saturday 13th May. The full programme is available, here. If you wish to view the living composers represented, click on this link and look for those with birth dates only. Alternatively, see below for a complete list of concerts that include new music, arranged in chronological order. As last year, once the Proms gets going you can click through on the link I’ve given to hear listen again options on concerts you’ve missed.
As for the programme itself, it’s good to see the reintroduction of the the first night premiere, with St John’s Dance by Tom Coult on 14th. We’ve not got a bad crop of other world premieres either, with major new commissions for Pascal Dusapin, Julian Anderson, Brian Elias and Judith Weir. Am I the only one, however, to notice that with 12 in total, there are significantly fewer world premieres than last year (where there were 16) or in 2015 (where there were 18)? A sign, perhaps, that in cash straightened times, new art is considered dispensable.
July
14th Tom Coult, St John’s Dance (world premiere); John Adams Harmonium.
16th Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Deep Time (UK premiere).
19th Pascal Dusapin, Outscape (UK premiere).
24th Laurent Durupt, Grids for Greed (world premiere).
26th Julian Anderson, Piano Concerto (world premiere)
28th Anders Hillborg, Sirens (UK premiere).
29th David Sawer, The Greatest Happiness Principle.
30th Sir James MacMillan, A European Requiem (European premiere).
August
3rd Erkki-Sven Tüür, Flamma (UK premiere).
5th Francisco Coll, Mural (London premiere); Thomas Adès, Polaris.
9th Brian Elias, Cello Concerto (world premiere).
12th Judith Weir, In the Land of Uz (world premiere).
14th Mark-Anthony Turnage, Hibiki (European premiere).
15th Thomas Larcher, Nocturne – Insomnia (UK premiere).
15th Philip Glass/Ravi Shanker, Passages (first complete live performance).
17th Michael Gordon, Big Space (world premiere); David Lang, Sunray (London premiere); Julia Wolfe, Big Beautiful Dark and Scary (London premiere): Philip Glass, Glassworks – Closing ; Louis Andriessen, Workers Union.
20th Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Chorale Prelude ‘Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott’ (world premiere); Jonathan Dove, Chorale Prelude ‘Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam’ (world premiere); Daniel Saleeb, Chorale Prelude ‘Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort’ (world premiere), Toccata on ‘Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort’.
21st Gerald Barry, Canada (world premiere).
30th Andrea Tarrodi, Liguria (UK premiere).
30th Hannah Kendall, The Spark Catchers (world premiere); George Walker, Lyric for Strings.
September
1st Wolfgang Rihm, In-Schrift.
4th John Adams, Lollapalooza.
5th Missy Mazzoli, Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) (European premiere of orchestral version).
9th Lotta Wennäkoski, Flounce (world premiere); John Adams, Lola Montez Does the Spider Dance (London premiere).