Following the launch of the BBC Proms 2018, Rayfield Allied looks forward to another exciting summer season at the Royal Albert Hall, with several artists making major contributions to the festival.
BBC Young Musician winners Natalie Clein and Jennifer Pike return to the Proms to perform alongside fellow past winners in the BBC Young Musician 40th Anniversary Prom on the 15th July, after previously appearing in the new BBC 4 Documentary ‘BBC Young Musician: Forty Years Young’. Natalie Clein's past Proms performances include Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1 under Sir Roger Norrington, two concerts as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, and a premiere of Sir John Tavener's Popule meus in 2011, while violinist Jennifer Pike's Proms highlights include her debut in 2005, appearances as a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, and a performance in the Last Night of the Proms 2009.
Baritone John Chest makes his Proms debut singing Pelléas Pelléas et Mélisande for Glyndebourne Opera on the 17th July. John recently made his Wigmore Hall debut in recital with pianist Marcelo Amaral and will next season sing Valentin Faust (Teatro Real, Madrid) and Belcore L’elisir d’amore (Den Norske Opera).
Soprano Francesca Chiejina returns to the BBC Proms for Prom 17 to sing Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No 3 with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales on the 27th July. Currently a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Francesca has sung roles including Micaela La tragèdie de Carmen, Lady in Waiting Macbeth and Melantho The Return of Ulysses. She recently sang Serena Porgy and Bess for her Canadian debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and will make her role debut next season as Clara Porgy and Bess.
On the 5th August, Mahan Esfahani will join conductor Thomas Dausgaard and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall for the Brandenburg Concertos Project concerts, which will include performances of all six of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, as well as UK premieres of works by Steven Mackey, Olga Neuwirth and Mark-Anthony Turnage amongst others.
Bass David Shipley returns to the Proms for to sing Arbre/Fauteuil L’enfant et les sortilèges with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle on the 18th August, Prom 48. This season he also makes his debuts at the Opera di Roma (Ratcliffe Billy Budd) and the Festival d’Aix en Provence (Truffaldino Ariadne auf Naxos) and next season will make his house and role debuts at Scottish Opera as Sparafucile Rigoletto.
Tenor Sam Furness will sing the role of The Defendant in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial By Jury at Alexandra Palace on the 1st September. He has recently sung at the Teatro Real, Madrid (Gloriana) and will make his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden next season as The Novice Billy Budd and The Simpleton Boris Godunov.
More information on the BBC Proms 2018 season is available here.
