“The 2017 Proms season has ended with a rallying cry for the future of classical music,” writes Mark Savage in Sunday’s (9/10) BBC.com. “ ‘For many decades we have heard about the imminent demise of classical music,’ said conductor Sakari Oramo. ‘But look,’ he said, surveying the Royal Albert Hall, ‘at this…. Classical music is going to be around for a very long time.’ … As is tradition, the audience set off party poppers, honked hooters, danced and wept melodramatically during [a] medley of British sea songs…. This year’s Proms season—the 123rd—has seen 80 orchestras and ensembles performing more than 400 pieces of music, including 30 premieres, over eight weeks [including] the Aurora orchestra playing Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ from memory; and French orchestra Les Siecles breaking into Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ for their encore…. The concert opened with a premiere of Flounce, a spritely new work by Finnish composer Lotta Wennakoski…. The 2017 Proms welcomed nearly 300,000 concert-goers … with one in five purchasing standing tickets which are sold on the day for £6. More than 35,500 tickets were bought by people attending the Proms for the first time and 10,000 under-18s attended concerts.”
Posted September 11, 2017
