91Èȱ¬ Proms 2006
Bigger and bolder:
the 112th season of 91Èȱ¬ Proms
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Friday 14 July–Saturday 9 September 2006
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Nicholas Kenyon today announced full details of the 2006
91Èȱ¬ Proms, which opens in July.
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The season, Kenyon's tenth in charge, features the traditional mixture of great music, artists and events, including this year birthday celebrations for Mozart and Shostakovich, an 80th birthday concert for Her Majesty The Queen, a day devoted to The Voice and the world premiere of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 6.
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It also introduces new music, outreach events, interactive
elements, and more Proms on television than ever before, creating a renewed
commitment to audiences and artists of the future.
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Since 1895 the Proms has been about making the best music available to all - informing, educating and entertaining the widest possible audience, and championing new music, composers and artists.
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It is widely regarded as the world's 'greatest music festival'
and packs more than 140 events into 58 days between 14 July and 9 September.
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In 2006 there are more concerts than ever.
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A new series of four Saturday Matinees at Cadogan Hall adds
to the 73 Royal Albert Hall (RAH) concerts, the eight Proms Chamber
Music concerts and the five Proms in the Park events around the country
on the Last Night bringing the number of concerts to 90.
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From Mozart's First Symphony
to Shostkovich's last, their works dominate the season performances
by the world's finest advocates of their music.
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Other anniversaries
include Colin Matthews (60), Steve Reich (70), Hans Werner Henze
(80), György Kurtág
(80), M Haydn (200 years since death), Marias (350 years since
death) and Schumann (150 years since death).
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The world premieres of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 6 - completed by Anthony Payne - Sir
Peter Maxwell Davies' new work for The Queen's birthday, and a new version of the Blue
Peter theme are just three new music highlights in 2006.
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There's also UK premieres from such leading living composers
as Osvaldo Golijov, HK Gruber and Magnus
Lindberg, as well as original
new voices Dai Fujikura and Benjamin
Wallfisch.
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There is adventurous
new music and 91Èȱ¬ commissions from British talents Julian
Anderson,
George Benjamin, James Dillon, Mark-Anthony
Turnage and Ian Wilson.
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Special events include a concert for The Queen in honour of her 80th birthday which involves 300 children drawn from eight choirs for a specially commissioned work by Sir
Peter Maxwell Davies and Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, and a Late Night Prom devoted to the choral works written for St Mark's, Venice between 1570 and 1670 which will see Sir
John Eliot Gardiner using the RAH spaces to the full.
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There are also two solo recitals in the RAH – one for the mighty organ by David
Goode, the first such Proms recital since the organ's restoration in 2004; the other from András
Schiff in an all-Mozart programme, the first solo piano recital in a main
RAH Prom since Evgeny Kissin's in 1997.
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Former Radio 3 World Music Award winners Radio Tarifa give a Late Night world music Prom as part of the Festival of Muslim Cultures.
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Jirà Belohlávek conducts his first First Night on the day he officially becomes Chief Conductor of the 91Èȱ¬ Symphony Orchestra, and Mark Elder return to conduct the Last Night.
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International talent includes Christoph Eschenbach - carrying forward the four-year-long Proms Ring cycle - Bernard
Haitink, Kurt Masur and Sir Simon
Rattle, and many leading names make welcome returns.
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Visiting orchestras – from Bamberg under Jonathan
Nott and Budapest under Iván Fischer, to Pittsburgh under Sir
Andrew Davis and Minnesota under Osmo Vänskä – plus Proms debuts from Stéphane Denève with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Philippe
Jordan with the Gustav
Mahler Youth Orchestra and a host of other major artists together with
a late-night celebration of Islamic music and culture, all add up to a
truly international festival of outstanding talent in 2006.
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Complementing the orchestras from around the world, the Proms is a showcase for our home-grown ensembles.
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The 91Èȱ¬ performing groups continue to provide the backbone
of the season alongside the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,
Hallé Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and Royal Scottish National orchestras.
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The Britten Sinfonia, London Sinfonietta,
Nash Ensemble, Northern Sinfonia and Scottish Chamber Orchestra also
appear, and many of the UK's finest period instrument ensembles help to
celebrate Mozart, including the Academy of Ancient Music, English Concert,
King's Consort and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
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More than
20 choirs from all over the UK also appear in 2006.
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Prommers are invited to sing at the Proms for the first time - officially! - as part of a day devoted to the human voice.
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The 91Èȱ¬ Proms undertakes its biggest and boldest creative
project to date – calling on more than 800 amateur singers drawn from
a wide variety of singing backgrounds, and including 100 Prommers, two
symphony orchestras, two conductors and the professional choir The
Shout.
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Together, in two separate concerts, they perform two versions
of a new work by Orlando Gough with a text by renowned playwright Caryl
Churchill about climate change.
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True to one of the Proms' founding principles to provide high-quality, inexpensive
concerts that would build a public appetite for classical music and appeal
to the widest possible audience, the 91Èȱ¬ Proms offers opportunities for families
and musicians – young and old, amateur and professional – to become involved
in the experience of music at the highest level with a view to nurturing
the artists, composers and audiences of the future:
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- 91Èȱ¬ Proms: Out + About moves to the Reading Hexagon for the first concert outside London;
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- 91Èȱ¬
Proms/Guardian Young Composers Competition raises the stakes with
key involvement from Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, John
Adams and a prestigious
panel of judges;
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- Special programming for children with the Blue
Peter Proms, and more of the world's top youth orchestras, children's choirs
and young artists than ever.
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Ticket schemes responsible for bringing more than 7,000 new
young people to the Proms in 2005 are continued.
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More performances and comprehensive information services are available across multiple media platforms.
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91Èȱ¬ ONE and
91Èȱ¬ TWO broadcast ten Proms between them, and – for the first time – 91Èȱ¬
TWO makes the First Night available to watch again for seven days after
the broadcast.
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91Èȱ¬ FOUR shows
the final three weeks of the season with live concerts each evening from
Sunday to Friday.
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Each Prom is live on 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 and available to Listen
Again for seven days after broadcast at bbc.co.uk/radio3.
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bbc.co.uk/proms continues to offer the
best source of news and up-to-date information about the season.
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The 91Èȱ¬ Proms Guide contains full details of the complete programme of
concerts, along with articles about the music and artists, and an advance
booking form.
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Priced £5, the same price as a Promming ticket, it is available from all good
bookshops and can be ordered from the 91Èȱ¬ Shop, 50 Margaret Street, W1W 8SF,
or by telephone on 0870 241 5490.
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Notes to Editors
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The 91Èȱ¬ Proms 2006 press pack
is available in pdf format via the links on the right-hand side of this
page, either as a complete pack or in sections.
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Sadly 83-year-old rai music legend Cheikha Rimitti has passed away. She was due to
perform alongside Radio Tarifa in a Late Night Prom on 4 August. Radio Tarifa
will perform as billed and further announcements on the programme will be made
as soon as possible.
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