We're back with your daily BBC Proms preview from BBC Music Magazine. Below you'll find information on Prom 55, which takes place on the evening of Saturday 31 August. It features one of the world's most acclaimed pianists, the Icelander Víkingur Olafsson, and one of the most acclaimed orchestras in the Berlin Philharmonic.
Make sure you keep coming back to www.classical-music.com all the way through to the Last Night of the Proms, which takes place this year on Saturday 14 September. Every day, we'll have an informative guide to that evening's Prom. And, if you want to see the whole lot of concerts in one place (which includes chamber music concerts and weekend festivals in cities across the UK), visit our packed 2024 BBC Proms guide.
What's on at the BBC Proms today?
Today we begin with a performance of Robert Schumann's scintillating, mercurial Piano Concerto, surely one of the greatest piano concertos of all time.
Schumann's largest work for piano and orchestra, the Piano Concerto in A minor features a bewitching mix of Romantic drama and joyous, infectious melodies - much like the later Piano Concerto by Edvard Grieg. Some of the greatest pianists of today and of the past, including Martha Argerich, Murray Perahia, Leif Ove Andsnes, Radu Lupu and Stephen Kovacevich, have made the Schumann concerto one of their calling cards.
After the interval, we'll hear Má vlast, the most famous work by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. It's a set of six tone poems, all evoking aspects of the countryside, history, or legends of the composer's native Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic). So we have ‘Vyšehrad’, a grand portrait of sound of the eponymous castle that sits high above Prague's Vltava river and was home to Bohemia's earliest kings.
Then comes ‘Vltava’ itself (often known as 'The Moldau' in English), a sonic depiction of the flowing grace of that great Bohemian river. And sion on we go, via a delicious depiction of the bucolic charm of Bohemia’s Woods and Fields and ending at ’Blaník', named after the mountain inside which (say the legends) a great Bohemian army still sleeps (but will one day wake and help their nation in its hour of need).
In short, it's a wonderful, gripping sonic tour of the Czech lands.
Who is performing at the BBC Proms today?
Today's Prom is one of only two Prom 2024 concerts to feature the hallowed Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Kirill Petrenko. One of the world's most prestigious and renowned orchestras, the Berlin Phil is famed for its exceptional musicianship and rich history. Over the course of its 142-year history, the orchestra has been helmed by some of the greatest conductors of all time including Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and Simon Rattle.
They are joined by the dazzling Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson for the Schumann concerto.
How much are tickets to the BBC Proms today?
Tickets to Prom 55 are priced between £26 and £80. You also have the option of joining the legendary Prommers for the day, and queuing outside the Royal Albert Hall for the chance of an £8 ticket.
