RCM Symphony Orchestra Makes Proms Debut

On 25 August, the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra is set to make its BBC Proms debut, bringing Gustav Holst’s dazzling depiction of a journey through space to the Royal Albert Hall. Marking the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, the combined forces of the Royal College of Music and Sibelius Academy symphony orchestras will guide audiences through one of his best-loved works, The Planets, with the senior College and RCM Junior Department Chamber Choirs.

Under the baton of Sakari Oramo, a seasoned BBC Proms figure and regular guest conductor at the College, the programme’s first half explores the sounds of Finland. The orchestra gives the world premiere of Laulut Maaseudulta (‘Songs from the Countryside’) by FinnishAmerican composer and Royal College of Music alumna Lara Poe, followed by the second ever Proms performance of Sibelius’ lesserknown tone poem The Wood Nymph.

Throughout the BBC Proms season, RCM alumni take the stage as soloists, conductors and orchestral musicians. Highlights include the season opening on 19 July with soprano Sophie Bevan performing as soloist in Bruckner’s Psalm 150. John Wilson returns to the Proms to lead the Sinfonia of London in a programme of scintillating American classics including Copland’s ballet Billy the Kid and Gershwin’s jazz-infused Rhapsody in Blue on 4 August, while Guy Barker conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in a programme celebrating Sarah Vaughan on 28 July. A new work by composer Dani Howard is given its world premiere by the National Youth Orchestra on 10 August, with students from the RCM Junior Department performing in the orchestra. On 26 July, RCM Junior Department alumna Laura van der Heijden performs Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s Earth, Sea, Air, a cello concerto inspired by climate change.

Throughout the eight-week festival, alumni from the RCM Vocal & Opera Faculty take to the Royal Albert Hall’s stage in a variety of performances. Baritone Hugo Herman-Wilson sings in Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, while mezzo soprano Kezia Bienek performs in Glyndebourne’s Proms performance of Carmen. Soprano Camilla Harris performs as Helena, one of the four young lovers in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Garsington Opera, and an evening of French music with the BBC Symphony Orchestra on 4 September features tenor Laurence Kilsby. Soprano Nardus Williams sings in Handel’s Messiah on 7 September and explores Women’s Stories from the Ancient World at the Proms Aberdeen on 1 September.

Elsewhere in the Proms season across the UK, cellist Clare O’Connell and soprano Ruby Hughes, both RCM alumni, join forces for an exploration of Elizabethan music and folklore at The Glasshouse, Gateshead, while Sofi Jeannin leads the BBC Singers in a series of a cappella masterpieces at the Bristol Beacon on 25 August. In Belfast, baritone James Atkinson performs song cycles by Fauré and Holmès in a chamber concert on 11 August. The season also spotlights some of the world-leading performers who teach at the College. Visiting Professor of Horn Stefan Dohr gives the UK premiere of Hans Abrahamsen’s Horn Concerto on 7 August, while Prince Consort Professor of Conducting Martyn Brabbins presents a programme of British works including music by Stanford, a founding professor of the RCM, on 13 August. Meanwhile, Brindley Sherratt, acclaimed bass and Visiting Professor of Vocal Studies, sings in Janáček’s monumental Glagolitic Mass on 28 August.