The 12 best BBC Proms 2024

The world's greatest music festival attracts international artists to South Kensington. Here is our pick of the BBC Proms 2024. Many are ideal for introducing younger people to live orchestral music, and all promise to be outstanding performances. Booking opens on Sat 18 May – except for the CBeebies Proms: booking for these opens on Fri 17 May.

Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, Culture Whisper's favourite instrumentalist of 2023, on the strength of her 2023 Proms appearance, returns to the Royal Albert Hall to open the 2024 Proms with conductor Elim Chan and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. She plays Clara Schumann's tender Piano Concerto, which she has recorded, in a programme that also includes music by Handel, Bruckner and a new work by Ben Nobuto, Hallelujah Sim. Beethoven's mighty Symphony No 5 closes the programme. Take the youngsters (Fri 19 July, 6:30PM).



Isata Kanneh-Mason plays Clara Schumann on opening night. Photo: Robin Clewley

Verdi's profound and operatic Requiem is always an overwhelming experience live, with its great choruses and passionate solos. And the BBC National Orchestra of Wales always make an impact at their Proms performances. Catch both, with Ryan Bancroft conducting, and soloists including Latonia Moore, making her Proms debut (Prom 6, Tues 23 July, 7PM). Stay on at the Royal Albert Hall for what promises to be a great Late Night Prom: the virtuosic, Polish born counter-tenor Jakub Józef Orlinski joins early music specialists Il Pomo d'Oro in early Italian music (Prom 7, Tues 23 July, 10:15PM).

CBeebies Proms are always a delight. This year there are two performances of the Wildlife Jamboree, and they can't take place until your younger music-lovers join in. It's their moment to join Duggee's Wildlife Jamboree Choir, with the youthful Southbank Sinfonia, BBC Singers and friends. This is a relaxed Prom, with BSL and it will be televised too. But be there in person for the most fun (Proms 11 & 12, Sat 27 July, 11AM and 3PM).

Take the family to the Proms to hear brothers Braimah Kanneh-Mason (violin), Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello), and friends in a morning concert for all ages entitled 'Songs and Dances with the Kanneh-Masons'. Composers include from Brahms, Bartók and Burt Bacharach to Stevie Wonder are in the programme of songs, dances and spiritual music that includes Dvorak's Song to the Moon and Laura Mvula's Sing to the Moon... (Prom 20, Sun 4 Aug, 11AM).



Sheku Kanneh-Mason and violinist brother Braimah present Songs and Dances on 4 August

Conductor John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London produce hit after hit: they have just won the BBC Music Magazine's recording of the year, with a selection of English pieces. At the Proms they look to the US for a programme that includes Aaron Copland's ballet score Billy the Kid, and George Gershwin's jazzy Rhapsody in Blue, with piano soloist Steven Osborne (Prom 21, Sun 4 Aug, 7PM).

For 25 years, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, with players from Arab and Israeli backgrounds, have played together, their music transcending political tensions. This year, an especially poignant appearance is scheduled to be conducted by the orchestra's co-founder Daniel Barenboim. Anne-Sophie Mutter will be the soloist in Brahms's Violin Concerto and the second half will be devoted to Schubert's 'Great' C major Symphony No 9 (Prom 31, Sun 11 Aug, 7:30PM).

At its first performance in 1962, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem was intended to have soloists from Germany, Russia and Britain, but Russian authorities stopped their singer travelling. In this performance at the Proms, soprano Natalya Romaniw, of Welsh and Ukrainian descent, is joined by English tenor Allan Clayton and American baritone Will Livermore. Sir Antonio Pappano conducts his new band, the London Symphony Orchestra, with three choirs adding to the powerful plea for peace (Prom 37, Sat 17 Aug, 7:30PM).



Nicholas Collon conducts Aurora Orchestra on 21 August. Photo: Mark Allan

Culture Whisper's favourite orchestra of 2023, Aurora Orchestra, under Nicholas Collon, have thrilled audiences with their performances from memory, which bring new excitement to established works. After last year's Prom performances of Stravinsky's savage The Rite of Spring, Aurora focuses on a work that celebrates internationalism. Beethoven's Choral Symphony has both instrumental innovation and a great, final, choral movement. This Ode to Joy was adopted as the anthem of the European Union, and there is sure to be a fervent response in the Royal Albert Hall, where audiences recognise the damage to musicians and music-making of Brexit (Prom 42, Wed 21 Aug 7:30PM).

The prestigious Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra makes two visits to the Proms this year – their only UK appearance in 2024. Kirill Petrenko conducts both performances. Our pick is the first concert, with dynamic Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafsson as soloist in Schumann's Piano Concerto, and Smetana's sweeping landscape in music, Má Vlast (Prom 55, Sat 31 Aug, 8PM – book early: this will sell out quickly). The Berliners return the next evening with Bruckner's vast Symphony No 5 (Prom 56, Sun 1 Sept, 7:30PM).

When Sir Simon Rattle left London and the London Symphony Orchestra he went to Munich, to conduct the elite Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. They are likely to wow Prommers with two programmes, the first featuring a new work by Thomas Adès, plus Bruckner's Symphony No 4, the 'Romantic', in the year that marks 200 years since the composer's birth. The second is given over entirely to Mahler's moving Symphony No 6 (Thurs 5 Sept, 7:30PM; Fri 6 Sept, 8PM. Early booking recommended).



Chinese! Orchestra play Tchaikovsky on 8 September

Chineke! Orchestra champions players, conductors and composers of ethnic minority. Their Proms appearances are always heartfelt events, and this year they play a major work shot through with pain and passion, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 6, the 'Pathetique'. To open, music from the same composer's Nutcracker Suite, and Callaloo – A Caribbean Suite for piano and orchestra by Stewart Goodyear, who is also the soloist (Prom 66, Sun 8 Sept, 7:30PM).

Among debut artists at the Proms this year are the innovative Garsington Opera, who bring their promising production of Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. A semi-staged performance is conducted by the company's music director Douglas Boyd, and a superb line-up of soloists includes counter-tenor Iestyn Davies as Oberon, soprano Lucy Crowe as Tytania and baritone Richard Burkhard as Bottom (Prom 68, Tues 10 Sept, 7PM).



Booking for BBC Proms 2024 opens at 9AM on Sat 18 May 2024. Click here for details of these and all other Proms