BBC Proms - Season 16 / Year 2018

BBC Proms 2018 launches with a feast for the eyes and ears in the world premiere of Five Telegrams, with music by Anna Meredith and stunning digital projections by 59 Productions marking the centenary of the end of the First World War. The all-British programme also features Vaughan Williams's pre-war choral masterpiece Toward the Unknown Region and Holst's evergreen Proms favourite The Planets. The BBC Symphony Orchestra is conducted by Sakari Oramo and they are joined by the BBC Symphony Chorus, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and the BBC Proms Youth Ensemble.

A star-studded line-up of BBC Young Musician winners and finalists, including Nicola Benedetti, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Emma Johnson, come together to celebrate the competition's fortieth anniversary. BBC Young Musician has been a launch pad for the careers of young artists since it began in 1978, and the list of performers that have taken part reads like a who's who of British musicians. Over 20 of the competition's leading names join forces for an evening celebrating the competition's rich history, including Michael Collins, Nicholas Daniel, Natalie Clein as well as some of the rising stars of recent years: Laura van der Heijden, Martin James Bartlett and the current title-holder Lauren Zhang. Presented by Clemency Burton-Hill and Josie d'Arby, the evening includes music by Saint-Saens, Ravel and Sir James MacMillan. There are also world premieres by David Bruce, Ben Foster and Iain Farrington, all with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Andrew Gourlay.

Multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier teams up with Jules Buckley and the Metropole Orkest, joined by special guests, including Take 6, Sam Amidon, Becca Stevens and Hamid El Kasri, for a Prom that features songs from Jacob's debut album, new tracks and their unique reimagining of well-known classics. Jacob Collier's musical career has been meteoric. Still only 23, he has been hailed as a musical genius and jazz prodigy, picking up two Grammy awards for his debut album in 2017. And now he has his own Prom. Jacob's solo talents first came to light when he became an internet sensation with his unique covers of songs such as Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing and Fascinating Rhythm. He's since been mentored by some of his heroes, including Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock, and in 2016 Jacob made a guest appearance at the Quincy Jones Prom.

Romantic titans Schumann and Mendelssohn share the night's bill with a pair of phenomenal female composers who died 100 years ago. Schumann's Fourth Symphony is the climax of this concert, which also includes work by Lili Boulanger, the first ever female winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome, and Welsh composer Morfydd Owen. Owen's Nocturne is the perfect way for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to mark its 90th anniversary year, while acclaimed French pianist Bertrand Chamayou performs Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto - all under the baton of Thomas Sondergard.

Petroc Trelawny presents a Prom featuring the works of three of the most loved English composers, Hubert Parry, Gustav Holst and Vaughan Williams, in which they reflect on a country transformed by war at the beginning of the 20th century. The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales are conducted by Martyn Brabbins. Parry, best known for his setting of national favourite Jerusalem, is celebrated with Symphony No 5, a work full of hope that paints a picture of England before the outbreak of the First World War. This peaceful idyll of England is echoed by another of the UK's most popular works, Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending, featuring American violinist Tai Murray. The second half of the evening evokes the shattering effect of the outbreak of the war - Holst's Ode to Death and Vaughan Williams's Pastoral Symphony reflect both composers' experiences of the horrors of the First World War.

Groundbreaking British composer Anna Meredith presents this special Proms tribute to the godmothers of electronica, the pioneers of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The celebration kicks off with music by Delia Derbyshire - most famously remembered for bringing the world the Doctor Who theme in its full electronic glory - and finishes with the premiere of Daphne Oram's revolutionary Still Point, lovingly pieced together from recently discovered archive material and performed by Shiva Feshareki on turntables. Music by artists including Laurie Spiegel, CHAINES and Suzanne Ciani, performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra under conductor Robert Ames, emphasises the power of this legacy.

Conductor Karina Canellakis returns with the BBC Symphony Orchestra after her triumphant 2017 Proms debut. Two 20th-century Russian masterpieces lead the bill - the exhilarating Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninov and Shostakovich's much-loved First Cello Concerto, where Canellakis is joined by another young American star, soloist Alisa Weilerstein. The evening kicks off with Beethoven's forceful Overture Coriolan, which Canellakis describes as a 'punch in the face', and a third young American, composer Andrew Norman, completes the programme with the UK premiere of his new work Spiral.

A celebration of the traditional music of the British Isles, presented by Julie Fowlis and Sam Lee. The BBC Concert Orchestra performs under conductor Stephen Bell, in collaboration with leading musicians: The Unthanks, Sam Lee, Julie Fowlis, Jarlath Henderson and ALAW. From the Outer Hebrides, multi-award-winning singer Julie Fowlis is a torchbearer for her native Gaelic tradition and famously lent her vocals to the theme song of the Pixar film Brave. Her co-presenter on the Prom is Mercury-nominated singer-songwriter Sam Lee. The innovative approach of The Unthanks from Northumbria has won them fans across the musical spectrum, and here the orchestral setting enhances the drama of their epic Mount the Air. Jarlath Henderson from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland is a master of the uilleann pipes and whistles, and in 2003 was the youngest ever BBC Young Folk Musician award winner.

A Caribbean spirit pulses through this late-night Prom from the Royal Albert Hall, led by reggae and dancehall producer Mista Savona. Cuban and Jamaican musicians unite onstage in an evening of roots reggae, dub, dancehall, salsa, rumba and Afro-Cuban beats, with vocalists including Randy Valentine, Brenda Navarette and Solis.

The BBC Philharmonic led by principal guest conductor Ben Gernon performs the music of Beethoven, Brahms and contemporary composer Tansy Davies. Proms regular Paul Lewis returns for Beethoven's evergreen final piano concerto, the Emperor, having played the complete cycle of five concertos in the 2010 season. And Beethoven's influence is strong in Brahms's sunny, pastoral Second Symphony that follows. Opening the evening in contemplative mode, the world premiere of Tansy Davies's orchestral suite What Did We See? reframes material from her acclaimed opera Between Worlds. Inspired by the events of 9/11 and the ordinary people caught up in it, this is a work of both remembrance and healing.

The Rev Richard Coles introduces a performance of Brahms's tender and consoling A German Requiem, inspired by the death of the composer's mother. Richard Farnes conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, with soloists Golda Schultz, making her Prom debut, and Johan Reuter. The evening starts by marking Thea Musgrave's ninetieth birthday with her dramatic and mysterious single-movement piece Phoenix Rising.

An eclectic mix of musicians with rich New York roots join Jules Buckley and the Heritage Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate the changing soundscape of the Big Apple. Folk indie rocker Sharon Van Etten, nu-disco dance project Hercules and Love Affair and progressive pop artist serpentwithfeet take us from pagan-gospel and disco-punk to feminist rap and DIY indie in one of this season's most distinctive Proms.

The awe-inspiring orchestra of teenagers returns to the Royal Albert Hall with a packed bill of popular masterpieces, including Mussorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain and Debussy's La Mer. Renowned British composer George Benjamin conducts the concert, which also features his own colourful Dance Figures and Gyorgy Ligeti's Lontano. Pianist Tamara Stefanovich performs Ravel's dazzling Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.

Tom Service presents as Grieg and Sibelius anchor this Proms debut performance by the Estonian Festival Orchestra, conducted by Paavo Jarvi. Pianist and former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Khatia Buniatishvili takes on Grieg's much-loved Piano Concerto, and Sibelius's soaring Fifth Symphony closes the concert. The curtain-raiser is Estonian national composer Arvo Part's Third Symphony.

Performances of two of the best-loved works in the repertoire. The concert starts with Mozart's ever popular Clarinet Concerto, written two months before his death. Thomas Dausgaard conducts the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, with the Belgian clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe as soloist. In the second half of the night, Mahler is the star with his Fifth Symphony and its beautiful Adagietto, arguably his most famous single piece of music.

Hungary's folk rhythms beat through the heart of this concert as the Budapest Festival Orchestra and founder and conductor Ivan Fischer return to the Proms with an ode to their homeland. Joining them on stage is a trio of the country's folk musicians, and together they showcase why these tunes have been such a rich source of inspiration to composers across history. The Royal Albert Hall resounds with a selection of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies and Brahms's Hungarian Dances, and concludes with Brahms's dramatic First Symphony.

John Wilson and the London Symphony Orchestra present the hit Broadway musical On the Town live from the Royal Albert Hall. With classic numbers such as New York, New York and l Can Cook Too and a star-studded line-up of singers including Nathaniel Hackmann and Louise Dearman, this concert performance launches a packed bank holiday weekend of Proms tributes to the late composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, who would have been 100 years old on this very day. Katie Derham presents, with special guest Clarke Peters.

Internationally acclaimed soprano Danielle de Niese presents an evening of music by French orchestral innovator and storyteller Maurice Ravel, performed by the LSO under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Magdalena Kozena and Patricia Bardon lead an all-star cast in the magical one-act opera The Child and the Spells. The programme also includes a ballet score full of fantasy and adventure, Mother Goose, and the exotic song cycle Sheherazade.

Superstar conductor Marin Alsop returns to the Royal Albert Hall with a pair of masterpieces by her mentor Leonard Bernstein in the American cultural giant's centenary year. Joining her from across the Atlantic is the energetic Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, performing at the Proms for the first time. The concert opens with Slava!, which Bernstein dedicated to virtuoso cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, followed by the composer's Second Symphony - The Age of Anxiety, performed by world-class pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. The evening culminates in Shostakovich's politically-charged Fifth Symphony.

At the 2017 Proms, world-renowned pianist and Bach specialist Sir Andras Schiff gave an acclaimed performance of the whole of Book One of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier. He returns to complete his journey through Bach's extraordinary work with a performance of Book Two of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

Tom Service presents a performance of Elgar's much-loved Cello Concerto, composed in the wake of the First World War, with French cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras as soloist. The Prom begins with Edward Gardner conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance of the choral miniature For A Soldier's Funeral by French composer Lili Boulanger. The final piece is Vaughan Williams's cantata Dona Nobis Pacem, a beautiful but heart-breaking exploration of the violence of war, as part of this season's focus on the centenary of the end of the First World War.

Temperatures are set to soar in the Royal Albert Hall with this fiesta of tango music from across the world. From the bars of Buenos Aires via Finland, where a passion for tango exploded at the beginning of the 20th century, this concert traces the development of the sexiest and sultriest music genre on the planet. Grammy Award-winning pianist Pablo Ziegler and a hand-picked group of world-class soloists join the Britten Sinfonia and conductor Clark Rundell for this one-off spectacular, presented by tango devotee Katie Derham.

The legendary Senegalese cultural icon Youssou N'Dour and his band Le Super Etoile de Dakar take over the Royal Albert Hall for this special Late Night Prom. The singer, composer, occasional actor, entrepreneur and political activist has been thrilling audiences for over 40 years. For his Proms debut, he brings his distinctive sound of Mbalax, a fusion of jazz, soul, Latin music and rock blended with sabar, the traditional drumming and dance music of Senegal. This largely acoustic performance will spotlight N'Dour's spine-tingling vocals and demonstrate why he is considered the first superstar of world music.

The BBC Proms 2018 season comes to a close with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and their much-loved former chief conductor Sir Andrew Davis steering proceedings live from the Royal Albert Hall. Long-standing nautical traditions of the evening are extended in Stanford's Songs of the Sea, featuring Canadian baritone Gerald Finley. The centenary of the end of the Great War is marked with a new work from Roxanna Panufnik. The evening includes music by Hindemith, Berlioz and Charles Hubert Parry. Coverage also includes visits to Proms in the Parks across the Nation, also celebrating this annual great night in classical music.

Katie Derham presents live coverage as the Last Night of the Proms continues from the Royal Albert Hall with the ever-popular Marche militaire francaise by Saint-Saens. Award-winning 18-year-old saxophonist Jess Gillam performs Scaramouche by Milhaud, and baritone Gerry Finley performs the song Soliloquy from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. To mark 100 years since 1918 there is a nationwide sing-around of traditional First World War songs, with contributions from the Proms in the Park events in Colwyn Bay, Glasgow and Belfast. The 2018 Proms are brought to a familiar and much-loved rousing close with Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory, and Jerusalem. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and BBC Singers are conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.