The music to the ears that is a new Proms season

 

Editorial
Thursday 23 April 2015 21:59 BST
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As overtures go, few lift the spirits quite like the announcement of a new Proms season. Harbinger of summer, drum-roll that presages the greatest classical music festival in the world, the arrival of the Proms guide – a publication which regularly tops the paperback best-seller lists – brings to mind warm nights at the Albert Hall and a panoply of sounds that from mid-July to early September run an amazing gamut.

In one sense this year is no exception. In amongst the Schubert and the Sibelius, we are promised Jarvis Cocker, a night of “grime”, and a tribute to Frank Sinatra. But 2015 is different in that it is a transitional year. Long-time director Roger Wright has moved on and an acting director is in charge in Edward Blakeman.

First held in 1895, the continued success of the Proms is testament to the seriousness with which the BBC takes its role as provider of cultural enrichment and enabler of supreme musicianship. It should never be taken for granted.

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