To celebrate the launch of this year's BBC Proms season, the ISM staff team have put together their own 'must see' list of performances. How does your list compare?
ISM staff team's must-see list
Prom 30: The John Wilson Orchestra performs Frank Sinatra
Chosen by Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive
About this BBC Prom:
‘The Voice’ … ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ … ‘The Sultan of Swoon’: the mythology surrounding Frank Sinatra is overwhelming. A gifted entertainer, screen actor and ubiquitous personality, his real legacy as a pioneer of popular song can sometimes get lost in the clamour. This Late Night Prom celebrates the centenary of this musical legend in a concert that brings together some of the great voices of our own time, led by the multitalented Seth MacFarlane. Join John Wilson and his orchestra for an after-hours sequence of big tunes and even bigger performances.'
Seth MacFarlane, vocalist
John Wilson Orchestra
John Wilson, conductor
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See a previous performance by the John Wilson Orchestra at BBC Proms
John Wilson conducts the John Wilson Orchestra and Maida Vale Singers in Mame by Jerry Herman, arr. by Philip J. Lang.
Featuring:
Sierra Boggess (soprano)
Anna-Jane Casey (vocalist)
Rodney Earl Clarke (bass-baritone)
Elizabeth Llewellyn (soprano)
Seth MacFarlane (baritone)
Julian Ovenden (tenor)
Prom 69: Orff – Carmina burana
Chosen by Francesca Treadaway, Communications Officer
About this BBC Prom:
'This year’s free Prom is an ideal opportunity to introduce family and friends to classical music. Carmina burana is as musically inventive as it is irreverent – a choral cantata based on a medieval text charting the joys, fickleness and excesses of human life. The BBC Concert Orchestra’s Composer-in-Association Guy Barker provides a new concerto for trumpet virtuoso Alison Balsom and the orchestra’s own Charles Mutter is the soloist in Saint-Saëns’s devilish Danse macabre.'
Charles Mutter, violin
Alison Balsom, trumpet
Olena Tokar, soprano
Thomas Walker, tenor
Benjamin Appl, baritone
Southend Boys' Choir
Southend Girls' Choir
BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Chorus
London Philharmonic Choir
BBC Concert Orchestra
Keith Lockhart, conductor
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See a previous performance by Alison Balsom at BBC Proms
Alison Balsom, Haydn Trumpet Concerto in Eb, 1st mov, 2009
Prom 14: Prokofiev – the piano concertos
Chosen by Henry Vann, Head of External Affairs
About this BBC Prom:
'All five Prokofiev piano concertos in one concert – it’s a feat conductor Valery Gergiev achieved in 2012 at the Mariinsky and now brings to the Proms, along with three of his original pianists. It’s a rare opportunity to hear three international soloists back-to-back, to compare styles and approaches, as well as to explore the composer’s later, lesser-known concertos with their newly expressive tenderness. Daniil Trifonov, the prodigious young winner of the Tchaikovsky and Chopin competitions, shares the bill with his teacher Sergei Babayan, while Alexei Volodin tackles the rarely heard Fourth, commissioned, like Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, by the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein.'
Daniil Trifonov, piano
Sergei Babayan, piano
Alexei Volodin, piano
London Symphony Orchestra
Valery Gergiev, conductor
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See a previous performance Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.1 at BBC Proms
Edward Gardner conducts pianist Louis Schwizgebel and The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto.
Prom 59: Life Story Prom
Chosen by Rebecca Gleave, Marketing Manager
About this BBC Prom
'Distinguished naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough presents a concert inspired by his recent BBC Television series, Life Story. The soundtrack, composed by Murray Gold (who has written the music for Doctor Who since 2005), takes centre-stage, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Sir David introduces sequences from the series played on big screens and is joined by members of the production team, who offer insights into the making of this stunning natural history series.'
Sir David Attenborough, presenter
BBC Concert Orchestra
Jeremy Holland-Smith, conductor
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About Life Story
David Attenborough takes us on the greatest of all adventures – the journey through life.
Prom 16: Late Night With … BBC Radio 1
Chosen by Natalia Fenyoe, Director of Marketing, Membership and Development
About this BBC Prom
'Radio 1’s first ever Prom is less concert and more dance-party – a musical homage to Ibiza and its infectious, energetic brand of club music. 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of Radio 1 in Ibiza and this will be a celebration to remember. Celebrated British DJ Pete Tong presents a line-up of live artists, who perform with Jules Buckley and his Heritage Orchestra.'
Pete Tong, Presenter
Heritage Orchestra
Jules Buckley, conductor
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Listen to BBC Radio 1 in Ibiza
MK DJ set from Ushuaia in Ibiza for BBC Radio 1 2014
Proms Chamber Music 1: Thomas Tallis
As chosen by Ceri Wood, Office and Events Administrator
About this BBC Prom
'The Cardinall’s Musick returns to the BBC Proms with director Andrew Carwood to launch a major new project: the Tallis Edition, aiming to throw new light on the music of this most lyrical of English polyphonists. As well as a selection of the composer’s liturgical music, the concert includes his extraordinary 40-part motet Spem in alium, in addition to the world premiere of a new tribute to Tallis by British composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad.'
Andrew Carwood, director
The Cardinall's Musick
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Listen to Spem In Alium ahead of this Prom
Prom 11: Fiddler on the Roof
Chosen by Bess Walker, Local Groups and Membership Services Administrator
About this BBC Prom
'Fiddler on the Roof brims with numbers such as ‘If I were a rich man’, ‘Sunrise, sunset’ and ‘Miracle of Miracles’. Hampshire’s Grange Park Opera makes its Proms debut with a semi-staged performance of its new production starring Bryn Terfel as Tevye, the village milkman in pre-Revolutionary Russia trying, in vain, to bring up his five daughters within the time-honoured traditions of his Jewish forebears.'
Bryn Terfel, Tevye
Grange Park Opera
BBC Concert Orchestra
David Charles Abell, conductor
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See Bryn Terfel at BBC Proms in the Park 2014
Bryn Terfel performs The Impossible Dream at Proms in the Park 2014.
Prom 22: Aurora Orchestra
Chosen by Simon Frais, Membership Officer
About this BBC Prom
'The Aurora Orchestra staged a Proms first last year when it performed Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 from memory. Now the dynamic young ensemble returns to continue this season’s sequence of family-friendly matinees, giving Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony the same direct, communicative treatment. It is paired with Australian composer Brett Dean’s own homage to nature – a work, he explains, inspired by ‘glorious birdsong, the threat that it faces, the loss, and the soulless noise that we’re left with when they’re all gone’. Former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Francesco Piemontesi joins the orchestra for Mozart’s late ‘Coronation’ Concerto, and the afternoon also features the premiere of a new commission from British composer Anna Meredith – also performed from memory.'
Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Aurora Orchestra
Nicholas Collon, conductor
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See Aurora Orchestra at the BBC Proms 2014
As part of its performance at the BBC Proms in August 2014, Aurora Orchestra performed Mozart's Symphony No. 40 from
memory under the direction of Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon. Footage used by kind permission of the BBC.
Prom 50: Bach – Goldberg Variations
Chosen by David Abrahams, Head of Legal
About this BBC Prom
'Grammy Award-winning pianist Sir András Schiff is a titan of the keyboard, bringing his distinctive blend of clarity and authority to repertoire from Bach to Bartók. Tonight he continues his long association with Bach’s music in a performance of the composer’s ‘Goldberg’ Variations – a monumental work composed, according to its title-page, ‘for the refreshment of the spirits’. The resulting Aria and variations are a compositional wonder, a sequence of musical miniatures unequalled in all Bach’s output.'
András Schiff, piano
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Listen to András Schiff at the BBC Proms 2011
Prom 74: Wireless Nights with Jarvis Cocker
Chosen by Peter Lappin, Legal Advisor
About this BBC Prom
'In the last of this year’s Proms collaborations with six of the BBC national radio stations and BBC Music, popular Radio 4 show Wireless Nights becomes a live concert experience, pairing music and spoken word inspired by the night. Singersongwriter Jarvis Cocker presents an evening he describes as ‘a nocturnal investigation of the human condition’, with Maxime Tortelier conducting the BBC Philharmonic. Badgers, starts, elves and lambs may or may not be involved.'
Jarvis Cocker, presenter
BBC Philharmonic
Maxime Tortelier, conductor
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Watch Jarvis Cocker and Brian Eno interview for BBC 6 Music
Prom 42: Sibelius – Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4
Chosen by Caroline Aldred, Business Support Officer
About this BBC Prom
'The Proms’ Sibelius symphony cycle continues with the concise, intricately wrought Third and the darker Fourth – once described by conductor Herbert Blomstedt as ‘an essay in trying to be happy which fails – on purpose’. These are paired with the composer’s popular Violin Concerto with Lithuanian soloist Julian Rachlin. Conductor Ilan Volkov is a passionate champion of contemporary music and here premieres a new Sibelius-inspired work by Michael Finnissy – a composer whose music, though fascinatingly complex, finds real connection with politics, society and culture.'
Julian Rachlin, violin
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov, conductor
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Prom 67: Bernstein – Stage and Screen
Chosen by Kim Davenport-Gee, Head of Publications and Professional Development
About this BBC Prom
'John Wilson and his orchestra are an annual Proms highlight, bringing the glitz and glamour of old-time stage and screen to the Royal Albert Hall. The second of their two performances this year is all about Leonard Bernstein – America’s multitalented conductor, pianist and composer. He reinvented the musical with the anger, energy and feral beauty of West Side Story, his updated take on Romeo and Juliet. A starry cast of soloists including Proms favourite Julian Ovenden and the West End’s Louise Dearman join the John Wilson Orchestra and Maida Vale Singers for a tribute to the composer that includes Bernstein’s biggest hits as well as a selection of rarities.'
Louise Dearman, vocalist
Julian Ovenden, vocalist
Maida Vale Singers
John Wilson Orchestra
John Wilson, conductor
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Watch Berstein at BBC Proms 2012
Prom 71: St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Chosen by Rebecca Mair, Executive Assistant
'German violinist Julia Fischer joins the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra for its second concert, as soloist in Tchaikovsky’s much-loved Violin Concerto – a work in which concert-hall sophistication balances rustic folk-simplicity, overflowing with tunes and climaxing in a dazzling rondo finale. Big tunes – or, at least, one big tune – also dominate Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations, his affectionate musical portrait of friends and acquaintances. The concert opens with one of Rimsky-Korsakov’s finest scores, the ‘three symphonic pictures’ adapted from his 1907 opera The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh – a work sometimes nicknamed ‘the Russian Parsifal'.
Julia Fischer, violin
St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (c.1925-91, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra)
Yuri Temirkanov, conductor
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Prom 41: Sherlock Holmes – A Musical Mind
Chosen by Emily Adams, CRM and Corporate Membership Manager
About this BBC Prom
'The Proms salutes a crime-fighting violin virtuoso who wrote a pioneering study of Dutch sacred music, tussled with a contralto from the Warsaw Opera and used Offenbach to outwit a pair of jewel thieves. This Proms matinee celebrates music that conjures up the world of Sherlock Holmes: works by Paganini, Lassus and Wagner which Conan Doyle tells us Holmes loved, and the film and TV scores written for him – from Miklós Rózsa’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes to David Arnold and Michael Price’s music from the BBC’s Sherlock series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Special guests include Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss, as well as mezzo-soprano Christine Rice, who explores the repertoire of Holmes’s nemesis, the opera singer Irene Adler.'
Mark Gatiss, actor
Christine Rice, mezzo-soprano
Jack Liebeck ,violin
Matthew Sweet, presenter
Stile Antico
BBC Concert Orchestra
Barry Wordsworth, conductor
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Watch a trailer for BBC's Sherlock
For more information about the BBC Proms 2015, visit www.bbc.co.uk/proms