“The Proms are back, … in swaggering style, [with] blockbuster pieces such as Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Mahler’s Symphony No 2,” writes Ivan Hewett in Tuesday’s (4/26) Daily Telegraph (London). “But it’s more than a joyous return to old traditions…. There are lunchtime concerts … the Berlin Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestras, and a truly diverse range of composers and performers and orchestras…. The First Night of the Proms [will feature] Verdi’s Requiem … with the BBC Symphony and Crouch End choruses and the London Symphony Orchestra… Beethoven’s ninth symphony … is particularly apt for these troubled times. And who better to bring this piece to life than Chineke!, Europe’s first majority-black and ethnically diverse orchestra, led by Chi-chi Nwanoku…. Last Night [will feature] cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason … playing a new concerto specially composed for him by James B Wilson…. There’s a nod to the centenary of composer Doreen Carwithen, in the shape of her amusingly titled overture ODTAA (One Damned Thing After Another). Dalia Stasevska conducts.” Also planned are concerts by the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, London Symphony Orchestra, and Australian World Orchestra, the latter led by Zubin Mehta; music from computer games; concerts for children; and a celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne.
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