SUNDAY 22ND AUGUST 2010 PROM 49: A CELEBRATION OF RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN/ THE JOHN WILSON ORCHESTRA It was as close as we get to being guests on the 20th Century Fox soundstages circa.1955. As the Main Title…

MONDAY 16TH AUGUST 2010 PROM 41: LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/ GERGIEV Royal Albert Hall It was somewhat ironic that amidst the profusion of orchestral perfumes emanating from Scriabin’s 1st Symphony those seated closest to the orchestra were momentarily…

WEDNESDAY 11TH AUGUST 2010 TCHAIKOVSKY “EUGENE ONEGIN” Bolshoi Opera/ Royal Opera House Dmitri Tcherniakov’s revelatory staging of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin unfolds in rich Chekovian detail and with such an acute behavioural eye that at times one feels…

TUESDAY 10TH AUGUST 2010 DEUTSCHES SYMPHONIE-ORCHESTER BERLIN/ METZMACHER Royal Albert Hall The music of the night takes many shapes and forms but this beautifully imagined programme was so rich in nocturnal sensations that it seemed to be…

SATURDAY 7TH AUGUST 2010 NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA/ BYCHKOV Royal Albert Hall Looking over the massed ranks of the National Youth Orchestra one might easily imagine that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice had worked some of his magic on the…

FRIDAY 6TH AUGUST 2010 PROM 27: HALLE ORCHESTRA/ ELDER (Royal Albert Hall) It was the second outing for a John Foulds piece in one week. But then it does tend to pour rather than rain at the…

TUESDAY 3RD AUGUST 2010 PROM 23: BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/ RUNNICLES Royal Albert Hall Questions may be raised in the Scottish parliament about the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra bringing an all-English programme to the Proms (one dear…

SUNDAY 1ST AUGUST 2010 ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT/ RATTLE Royal Albert Hall A night of love; an hour or two of quiet revelations. As Simon Rattle and his period band – the Orchestra of the…

FRIDAY 23RD JULY 2010 PROM 9: BBC PHILHARMONIC/ SINAISKY Royal Albert Hall It’s the highlight of every “Last Night”, the nation’s unofficial National Anthem, but for its composer Hubert Parry Jerusalem has proved as much of a…

WEDNESDAY 21ST JULY 2010 PROM 6: BBC SO/ LEWIS/ BELOHLAVEK Royal Albert Hall The big occasion often brings out the best in the truly gifted and with so much riding on his much-anticipated Proms cycle of the…