BBC Proms 2020: Episode Guide & Ratings

Katie Derham presents the first night of the world’s greatest live classical music festival, with a feast of music including Beethoven’s Third Symphony, Aaron Copland’s Quiet City and a new work by young British composer Hannah Kendall, all brought to you by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers, with conductor Sakari Oramo. Join Katie and special guest Stephen Fry as they celebrate the return of live music to the Royal Albert Hall.

Organist Jonathan Scott performs his own virtuosic arrangements of works by Rossini, Mascagni, Dukas, plus a climactic Saint-Saëns's Symphony No. 3, on the world-famous Royal Albert Hall organ.

Sir Simon Rattle and the LSO with a programme of unmissable music featuring star pianist Mitsuko Uchida playing Beethoven, works by Elgar and Vaughan Williams, and a new composition by Thomas Adès.

In a Viennese spectacular, the BBC Concert Orchestra are joined by soloists Sophie Bevan and Robert Murray, performing works by Lehár and Johann Strauss II, conducted by Bramwell Tovey.

The London Sinfonietta perform cutting edge contemporary works by Philip Glass, Tansy Davies, Steve Reich and Anna Meredith.

In a change to the originally advertised programme, John Storgårds, the BBC Philharmonic's Chief Guest Conductor, joins the orchestra to conduct Haydn, Britten and Tchaikovsky.

Nicola Benedetti leads a high-energy evening of baroque music with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, led by Jonathan Cohen.

Sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar takes to the stage in an evening dedicated to her father and musical guru, Ravi, in what would have been his centenary year. Anoushka is joined in the first half by electronic music producer and performer Gold Panda for a new imagining of Ravi’s music. In the second half, Jules Buckley, the Britten Sinfonia and soloist Manu Delago accompany Anoushka in a selection of her music. Josie d’Arby presents this unique evening from the Royal Albert Hall.

Stephen Hough plays Beethoven in a concert featuring a World Premiere from Jay Capperauld.

Laura Marling teams up with the 12 Ensemble for a retrospective journey through her back catalogue, as well as showcasing tracks from her 2020 album, Song for Our Daughter.

London based eight-piece band KOKOROKO bring their ‘horn fuelled’ Afrobeat sound to the Proms, led by trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey.

To celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary, Tom Service and the Aurora Orchestra present a unique evening in which conductor Nicholas Collon and the orchestra take apart Beethoven’s popular Seventh Symphony and show us the inner workings of the composer’s creative genius, followed by a performance of the work in the orchestra’s signature style - from memory! Also on the bill at the Royal Albert Hall is a new work by British composer Richard Ayres, whose piece is inspired by Beethoven’s struggle with his loss of hearing.

Superstar siblings Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason perform their first Prom together, an evening of chamber music for cello and piano.

Ryan Bancroft joins BBC NOW as principal conductor at BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay for his first official engagement, his Proms debut and the first Prom from Wales! Martinu’s quirky Jazz Suite complements John Adams’s Chamber Symphony, written in 1992. After the world premiere of a new BBC commission by British composer Gavin Higgins, there are two evocative American classics by Barber and Copland. Acclaimed soprano Natalya Romaniw from Swansea, who represented Wales in Cardiff Singer of the World, joins the orchestra for this unforgettable Prom.

Featuring South African soprano Golda Schultz with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under its principal guest conductor Dalia Stasevska. Presented by Katie Derham.