The BBC Proms have announced their 2021 season, bringing six weeks of world-class classical music back to live audiences at the Royal Albert Hall.
Mahan Esfahani returns to the Royal Albert Hall for the Manchester Collective's BBC Proms debut on 17th August, to play Horovitz’s Jazz Concerto for harpsichord, strings, and jazz kit and Górecki's Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings in a programme that challenges perceptions and celebrates musical ‘outsiders’. The Prom builds on an ongoing collaboration between Manchester Collective and Mahan Esfahani which has included recent concerts in Nottingham, Leeds and Norwich and which will see them embark on a UK tour in November 2021. He will on the BBC In Tune Proms Launch Special on 27th May, which can be heard here.
Tenor Nick Pritchard makes his BBC Proms debut on Friday 20th August with the Britten Sinfonia, the National Youth Chamber Choir and conductor David Bates, performing the tenor solos in Mozart’s Requiem, alongside arias by Rameau.
In two special Family Proms on 29th August, a new commission by Daniel Kidane will be given its world premiere, performed by the Kanneh-Mason family and joined by author Michael Morpurgo. The new work is inspired by the poetry of Lemn Sissay and the Manchester Caribbean Festival, and will be accompanied by Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals. Daniel's Proms debut came in 2019, when the world premiere of Woke opened the Last Night of the Proms, conducted by Sakari Oramo and performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Woke was reviewed as "electrifying and energising", "darkly suggestive" and "immensely skillful", and future international premieres are planned.
On Wednesday 1st September, bass-baritone Dingle Yandell will be the bass soloist for Handel's Dixit Dominus with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Solists, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner - this performance will be broadcast on BBC Four on 5th September.
On Saturday 4th September, soprano Francesca Chiejina sings Berg's Seven Early Songs with the Sinfonia of London, conducted by John Wilson. This performance marks the orchestra's concert debut since their re-formation in 2018, and will be broadcast on BBC Four on 9th September.
To find the full programme, visit the BBC Proms website here. To watch the trailer for the BBC Proms, click here.
