91Èȱ¬

Late Night Proms have established themselves as an extraordinary place for audiences to hear a broader and more eclectic range of repertoire and for the 91Èȱ¬ Proms to programme music that may not otherwise be heard. They often pick up some of the season's strands and stand in their own right as outstanding events of the season.

Among the highlights in 2009 are the first Proms devoted to the music of Minimalists Philip Glass and Michael Nyman, a Proms debut for the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, a Mendelssohn and Berg Prom from members of Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, motets by J S Bach conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, an 80th-birthday tribute to George Crumb by the Nash Ensemble, and a welcome return to the Proms for the Silk Road Ensemble with
Yo-Yo Ma.

Late Night Proms in 2009

Stan Tracey – known to his fans as the "Godfather of British jazz" – follows a performance of Haydn's The Creation with his own recreation of the biblical version of the Big Bang in the suite Genesis, which gets its first performance at the Proms (18 July)

marking both the Haydn anniversary and the 50th birthday of James MacMillan, the 91Èȱ¬ Singers and Manchester Camerata, conducted by Douglas Boyd, perform works inspired by the idea of Christ's Seven Last Words with singers Elizabeth Watts (a Radio 3 New Generation Artist), Renata Pokupic, James Gilchrist and Darren Jeffery (20 July)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his hand-picked Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists perform a selection of motets by J S Bach including Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing to the Lord a new song) a work which had even Mozart exclaiming, "Now, there's a piece one can learn from." (28 July)

marking his 75th birthday, three of Birtwistle's major early works are played by the London Sinfonietta, which premiered all of these works in its first decade, rejoined by its founder-conductor David Atherton
(4 Aug)

the first Prom devoted to the music of one of the most prolific, influential and instantly identifiable composers our age, Philip Glass, includes Gidon Kremer with the popular 1987 Violin Concerto, and the UK premiere of his Symphony No. 7 (12 Aug)

the all-singing, all-strumming Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain makes its Proms debut with music – from Parry's Jerusalem, Wagner's The Ride of the Valkyries and Beethoven's Choral Symphony to songs by The Who and the Sex Pistols – in unorthodox arrangements, the likes of which have never been heard at the Proms before! (18 Aug)

members of Daniel Barenboim's West–Eastern Divan Orchestra punctuate two big Royal Albert Hall concerts with a more intimate Late Night Prom to comprise Mendelssohn's Octet and Berg's Chamber Concerto (21 Aug). Part of a weekend celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Orchestra

the first Prom devoted to the music of Michael Nyman, now best-known for his soundtracks to such movies as The Piano, Gattaca and Wonderland, given by the Michael Nyman Band. The concert puts a modern spin on the Purcell and Handel celebrations with excerpts from Nyman's Purcell-inspired scores to The Draughtsman's Contract and The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and the world premiere of a 91Èȱ¬ commission inspired by Handel (25 Aug)

the Netherlands Wind Ensemble marks the 70th birthday of Dutch composer Louis Andriessen and the 50th birthday of his leading British pupil Steve Martland alongside a London premiere by another former pupil, Cornelis de Bondt (28 Aug)

the highly original American composer George Crumb turns 80 in 2009, and is celebrated in a Prom devoted to his music with the Nash Ensemble under Diego Masson. It includes Night of the Four Moons, Vox balaenae and Ancient Voices of Children (4 Sept)

marking the 75th birthday of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, who spends his actual birthday at the Proms, the 91Èȱ¬ Singers under David Hill perform his unaccompanied choral work Westerlings and his settings of texts by Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown, Solstice of Light (with organist David Goode), which tells the history of his home islands, Orkney, and their emergence from the ice (8 Sept)

the Silk Road Ensemble with cellist Yo-Yo Ma return to the Proms for the first time since their debut in 2004 with a cornucopian Late Night Prom as part of their 10th-anniversary celebrations. The boundary-straddling offering explores yet more of the historical and contemporary music links between East and West, inspired by the ancient trading route between China and Europe (11 Sept).