BBC denies dumbing down as Michael Ball signs up for Proms

The controller of the BBC Proms fended off charges of "dumbing down" the annual event after the West End singer Michael Ball was signed to perform an evening of show tunes.

Ball will become the first musical theatre star to have his own concert as part of the Proms, which have been a highlight of the classical music calendar since 1895.

The singer has starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera and Aspects Of Love, as well as Les Miserables and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He had a chart hit in 1989 with "Love Changes Everything" andappeared at the Proms In The Park concert in London's Hyde Park in 1997.

His show for this year's Proms - An Evening with Michael Ball - will take place on 27 August at the Royal Albert Hall. Although the set has not yet been confirmed, his repertoire may include Broadway hits, Gilbert and Sullivan compositions and the Lloyd Webber "classics" with which he has become synonymous.

Nicholas Kenyon, the Proms controller, praised Ball's voice and said he felt sure a classical music audience would accept his inclusion. "I think he is one of the great, intelligent singing artists alive today," he said. "He deserves a place at the Proms just as much as performers in the great classical tradition.

"Our job is to cover the whole waterfront. The real test here is the audience. We are responding to what audiences want to hear.

"There may be an item by Andrew Lloyd Webber, but he is also worthy of the Proms. It is music that sticks in the mind in the great Gershwin and Bernstein tradition." Other highlights of this year's 90 proms, which run from 13 July to 8 September, include Rachel Portman's composition on global warming, inspired by the destruction in New Orleans caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Portman, whose film music credits include Chocolat, The Cider House Rules and Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet, won an Oscar for the music in Emma in 1997. For the Proms, she has composed The Water Diviner's Tale, a collaborative effort with the poet Owen Sheers, which will tell a "mythic" story of a group of children lost after a great storm sweeps away their homes and families. The work will generate a BBC talent search for 40 singers - including four principal roles - and auditions will be held across the country for children aged 11 to 16.

Kenyon said the show was "of the moment" and was proof that the Proms "reflect what is going on in the world. "There will be no overt mention of New Orleans but it is clear that the inspiration was Hurricane Katrina," he added.

The season will also include a concert devoted to British film music, featuring scores from The Dam Busters, Shakespeare In Love, Bridge Over The River Kwai and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in a special night that coincides with Bafta's 60th anniversary.

There will be a performance by the Asian fusion artist Nitin Sawhney, who will give an orchestral performance inspired by the 60th anniversary of Indian partition. "There will be music from my albums, some classical music for orchestra and so on," said Sawhney.

Musical events inspired by Shakespeare will include Bernstein's West Side Story and Verdi's Macbeth.

This year also sees the first Brass Day, billed as "one of the loudest and most memorable experiences of the season". The Black Dyke and Grimethorpe Colliery bands will perform with Uzbekistani trumpeters.

Organisers hope to top last year's audience of 250,000, a figure diminished by a fire at the Albert Hall, which led to the cancellation of a Prom.