Contemporary Music At The Proms 2009

[Note: This is a duplicate/archive of an article I published on Sequenza 21 on 14/07/2009]

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Yes, it's Proms season again here in the UK/GB (see link for the differences.) The "worlds greatest music festival" kicks off on Friday and I thought I would put together a vaguely 'contemporary' programme for those so inclined.

Included are composers who are still alive regardless of 'style', and a few 20th century composers I thought relevant (excuse my subjective and rather fuzzy criteria; Stravinsky and Bartók are included for instance, Debussy, Ravel and Shostakovich are not; feel free to berate me in the comments section.)

All the concerts listed will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and will be archived a week or so later on their website (for seven days only). Also, the BBC normally broadcasts quite a few live on TV (usually on BBC 2); these will be archived on their 'iPlayer' but unfortunately this is not accessible by those outside the UK (if you are not a native get your British friends to set their VCRs or whatever newfangled device people are using these days).

If you fancy making a personal appearance, most of the concerts will be on at the Royal Albert Hall in London with those from the 'Proms Chamber Music' series occurring at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea (listed below with the prefix 'PCM', Chelsea is also in London if you didn't already know.) The festival runs from Friday the 17th of July to Saturday the 12th of September.

If you are visiting from outside the UK this might be a good year given how weak the pound is currently (against the US Dollar and the Euro at least.) To buy tickets and to check availability please visit the Royal Albert Hall's tickets page.

Rather than list each Prom I thought composers in alphabetical order might be more helpful (taken from this page on the BBC site where you can access the full list, including Debussy, Ravel and Shostakovich et al), please click on the links to each piece to get more information about the specific concert.

A couple I am looking forward to are Prom 63 featuring two Xenakis pieces (Aïs and Nomos Gamma) and Prom 65 featuring Ligeti's Atmospheres and Schoenberg's Five Orchestral Pieces (in it's 100th year) conducted by Jonathan Nott. Also it will interesting to see/hear some of the pieces by younger composers I have never heard anything from before such as Anna Meredith, whose piece Left Light is premiered at Prom 32 and Ben Foskett whose From Trumpet has its first outing at Prom 24.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the list... [EDIT: I've now added a link to a Google calendar with the dates and details of all the Proms in the list plus a few more I think, thanks very much to Jamie Bullock for putting it together.]



Link to a Google calendar version of the list, and an ical link.

Andriessen, Louis (born 1939)

The Hague Hacking (Concerto for 2 pianos & orchestra) - Prom 43

De Staat - Prom 58

Antheil, George (1900-1959)

Ballet mécanique (4 pianos and ensemble) - Prom 33

Arthurs, Tom (born 1980)

And Distant Shore (world premiere) - PCM 18

Bartók, Béla (1881-1945)

Dance Suite - Prom 15

Sonata for solo violin - PCM 8

Sonata for two pianos and percussion - Prom 33

Violin Concerto No.2 - Prom 44

Berg, Alban (1885-1935)

Chamber Concerto - Prom 49

Birtwistle, Harrison (born 1934)

Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum - Prom 27

The Mask of Orpheus - Act 2 - Prom 39

Silbury Air - Prom 27

Verses for Ensembles - Prom 27

Bondt, Cornelis de (born 1953)

Doors Closed (London premiere) - Prom 58

Casken, John (born 1949)

Orion over Farne - Prom 16

Chin, Unsuk (born 1961)

Cello Concerto (world premiere) - Prom 38

Crumb, George (born 1929)

Ancient Voices of Children - Prom 66

Night of the Four Moons - Prom 66

Vox Balanae (Voice of the Whale) - Prom 66

Davies, Peter Maxwell (born 1934)

Roma, amor - Prom 29

Solstice of Light - Prom 71

Violin Concerto No.2 (UK premiere) - Prom 70

Westerlings - Prom 71

Foskett, Ben (born 1977)

From Trumpet (world premiere) - Prom 24

Glanert, Detlev (born 1960)

Shoreless River (UK premiere) - Prom 46

Glass, Philip (born 1937)

Symphony No.7 (A Toltec Symphony UK Premiere) - Prom 37

Violin Concerto - Prom 37

Goehr, Alexander (born 1932)

Since Brass nor Stone - PCM 7

Goldie (born 1965)

Sine Tempore - Without Time (world premiere) Prom 21, and Prom 23


Golijov, Osvaldo (born 1960)

She Was Here (after Schubert) (UK premiere) - Prom 59

Greenwood, Jonny (born 1971)

Popcorn Superhet Receiver - Prom 39

Harvey, Jonathan (born 1939)

Come, Holy Ghost - Prom 8

Holliger, Heinz (born 1939)

(S)Irato (UK premiere) - Prom 26


Hosokawa, Toshio (born 1955)

Cloud and Light (UK premiere) - Prom 10


Jarrell, Michael (born 1958)

Sillages (world premiere) - Prom 25

Knussen, Oliver (born 1952)

Horn Concerto - Prom 30
Flourish with Fireworks - Prom 76

Ligeti, György (1923-2006)

Atmosphères - Prom 65

Lutoslawski, Witold (1913-1994)

Concerto for Orchestra - Prom 31

Variations on a Theme by Paganini for two pianos - Prom 32


Macmillan, James (born 1959)

Seven Last Words from the Cross - Prom 6

Martland, Steve (born 1959)

Beat the Retreat - Prom 58

McCabe, John (born 1939)

Horn Concerto 'Rainforest IV' (London premiere) - Prom 67

Study No.12 (Sonata) (world premiere) - PCM 16

Meredith, Anna (born 1978)

Left Light (world premiere) - Prom 32

Nyman, Michael (born 1944)

Six Celan Songs - Blume; Psalm - Prom 54

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover - Memorial - Prom 54

The Draughtsman's Contract - selection - Prom 54

The Musicologist Scores (world premiere) - Prom 54


Pärt, Arvo (born 1935)

If Bach Had Been a Beekeeper - Prom 21 and Prom 23

Saunders, Rebecca (born 1967)

traces (UK premiere) - Prom 56


Schnittke, Alfred (1934-1998)

Nagasaki (UK premiere) - Prom 52


Schoenberg, Arnold (1874-1951)

Five Orchestral Pieces, Op.16 - Prom 65

Simcock, Gwilym (born 1981)

Contours - PCM 18

Stravinsky, Igor (1882-1971)

Agon - Prom 57

Apollo - Prom 39

Concerto in D major - PCM 4

The Fairy's Kiss - Prom 34

The Firebird - Prom 16

Fireworks - Prom 1

Jeu de Cartes - Prom 30

Les noces - Prom 33

Orpheus - Prom 40

Petrushka (1947 version) - Prom 15

Pulcinella (complete) - Prom 20

The Rite of Spring (two piano version) - Prom 38

Scènes de ballet - Prom 28

The Soldier's Tale - Suite - PCM 18

Takemitsu, Tŏru (1930-1996)

Ceremonial - An autumn ode - Prom 10

Green - Prom 10

Thomas, Augusta Read (born 1964)

Violin Concerto No.3 'Juggler in Paradise' (UK premiere) - Prom 72

Tracey, Stan (born 1926)

Genesis Suite - Prom 3

Vivier, Claude (1948-1983)

Orion (UK premiere) - Prom 60

Weir, Judith (born 1954)

Ascending into Heaven - Prom 8

Widmann, Jörg (born 1973)

Con brio (UK premiere) - Prom 18

Wigglesworth, Ryan (born 1979)

The Genesis of Secrecy (world premiere) - Prom 8

Williams, John (born 1932)

Music from 'Jurassic Park' " 'Star Wars' - Prom 21 and Prom 23

Woolrich, John (born 1954)

Capriccio (World premiere) - PCM 4

Xenakis, Iannis (1922-2001)

Aïs - Prom 63

Nomos gamma - Prom 63

Zimmerman, Bernd Alois (1918-1970)

Dialoge - Prom 64