“There will be orchestras of Mozart and Beethoven size rather than Mahler and Shostakovich size but at least they will be performing live from the stage of the Royal Albert Hall, organizers of the BBC Proms have confirmed,” writes Mark Brown in Thursday’s (7/2) Guardian (U.K.). “There will almost certainly not, however, be any physical audience in the auditorium…. Before the fortnight of live proms there will be six weeks of ‘fantasy proms’ from the archives broadcast on BBC Four, Radio 3 and iPlayer. Live and audience-free proms begin on 28 August and will feature each of the BBC orchestras…. The last night will … feature … a newly commissioned work by Swedish composer Andrea Torrodi which responds to the pandemic…. Other live highlights will include a recital by cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his pianist sister Isata Kanneh-Mason; pianist Mitsuko Uchida performing with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle; and violinists Nicola Benedetti and Alina Ibragimova with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment…. The opening weekend will feature the lockdown-assembled ‘BBC Grand Virtual Orchestra’ with 350 musicians performing an original arrangement of Beethoven’s nine symphonies by Iain Farrington.”
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