BBC Proms to feature disco night and Florence + The Machine

The BBC has announced a bumper Proms season for 2024, with 90 concerts that mix traditional repertoire with concerts by Florence + The Machine, Sam Smith and Bristol's Paraorchestra.

After a lean period during Covid, international orchestras are back in full force, with performances from the Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and the West-Eastern Divan.

And there will be a tribute to Sir Andrew Davis, the jovial conductor who led the Last Night concert on a dozen occasions, after his death last week.

Sir Andrew had been scheduled to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Prom 54 in August, featuring works by Stravinsky and Schumann alongside a new work by Steve Reich.

The conductor, who was known for both his musicality and humorous speeches, died of leukaemia in Chicago on Saturday at the age of 80.

Proms director David Pickard said the shape of the tribute had yet to be decided, but "we will find a way of commemorating him and his marvellous work on the Proms".

"I think it will be extremely emotional for the orchestra because he was not only a brilliant musician, he was the loveliest man," he said. "We'll miss not only his music-making but frankly his smile, his laughter [and] his spirit of bonhomie.

"He's a real character that we've lost, and it's a great sadness."

This year is Pickard's last as director of the Proms, after nine years in charge.

His swansong is one of the most diverse programmes in years, reflecting BBC Radio 3's mission to engage new audiences in classical music.

That means storied pieces like Britten's War Requiem and Verdi's Requiem will rub shoulders with a Doctor Who Prom, a concert dedicated to folk-rock troubadour Nick Drake, and an evening of music by Pink Panther composer Henry Mancini.

Florence + The Machine will make her Proms debut, with a new orchestral arrangement of her debut album Lungs, while Sam Smith will give the same treatment to their debut In The Lonely Hour.

"This isn't an artist going into the Proms instead of Glastonbury," said Pickard. "It's an artist knowing about the orchestral setting of everything that we do, and creating something bespoke and exciting for us."

The opening night will take place on 19 July, with Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra in performances of Beethoven's Symphony No 5 and Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason will also take to the stage, performing the piece she credits with launching her career: Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto.

"I discover something new each time I play it," said the 27-year-old. "It can be quite awkward pianistically, but... each time I come back to it, I'm more comfortable and have more freedom to express everything I feel about the music."

Other star soloists will include her brother, cellists Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Yo-Yo Ma, percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, South Korean prodigy Yunchan Lim and acclaimed violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja.

Following the success of last year's Northern Soul Prom, the second night of the 2024 season will be dedicated to the sounds of the 1970s disco scene.

"A little bit of me is very amused by the fact that, on the first night of the Proms we have Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and, on the second night, we have A Fifth Of Beethoven from Saturday Night Fever," said Pickard.

The disco night also raises the tantalising prospect that Bianca Jagger - who attended a performance of Mahler's Ninth at last year's Proms - will return to recreate the famous moment when she rode into the New York nightclub Studio 54 astride a white horse.

There will also be concerts in Gateshead, Belfast, Newport, Nottingham and Aberdeen, with a mini-season at Bristol's newest concert hall in August.

The Bristol Beacon will host a CBeebies concert and the Proms debut of the Paraorchestra - the UK's only ensemble made up of disabled and non-disabled musicians - performing Mozart's Symphony No 40 from memory.

Bristol will also mark the 100th anniversary of the BBC Singers, a year after they were threatened with closure due to budget cuts.

The famed Last Night concert will be held at the Royal Albert Hall on 14 September, conducted by Sakari Oramo.

The Prom will continue to feature Rule, Britannia!, which has become increasingly controversial because of its lyrics, organisers confirmed earlier this week.

Last year, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason received a torrent of abuse for suggesting that it should no longer be played.

Sam Jackson, controller of Radio 3, described the reaction as "abhorrent" and "utterly unacceptable", but said the musician's discomfort with the song had made him "pause and reflect".

Speaking to the Radio Times, he said: "The challenge that we have at the BBC is that I could sit in a room full of people who feel exactly the same way as Sheku and I could sit in another room full of licence-fee payers who feel just as strongly, if not more so, that Rule, Britannia! is a crucial part of our culture and tradition.

"I would argue we have to do what is morally right at the BBC," he added. "We should never do things just because it's what other people might want. We have to do what is right."

Pickard said he would feel a "particular sadness" on his last Last Night in September, but promised to be back in the audience next year, when Jackson and Hannah Donat will take over the festival.

Speaking to BBC News, he chose the three concerts he's most looking forward to from his final programme:

• Prom 42: Beethoven's Ninth by heart. "The Aurora Orchestra will be playing the whole symphony from memory in the second half of the concert - but before that, they will be explaining the piece and how it fits into Beethoven's life and the suffering he was going through with hearing loss."
• Prom 2: Everybody Dance! The Sound of Disco. "This exactly what the Proms is about - surprising people. But if you listen to some of those disco songs, they were so orchestrally-driven."
• Prom 45: Dalia Stasevska/BBC Symphony Orchestra. "This includes Julius Eastman's incredible Second Symphony, which has never been heard in this country before. And in the same concert, you'll get to hear Jamie Barton, the wonderful mezzo-soprano, singing Mahler's Ruckert-Lieder, which is full of the most beautiful poetry."

Every Prom will be broadcast live on Radio 3 and BBC Sounds for 12 months. Highlights and full concerts will also be shown on BBC TV and iPlayer over 24 separate broadcasts.

Tickets will be available from 18 May. On-the-day "Promming" tickets are £8 including booking fees, and seated tickets start from £10 plus booking fees.