Proms 2011 season revealed

 
Details of this year's Proms are now available online. Here are the some of the highlights:

• 16 July - Rossini's Guillaume Tell in concert - Pappano conducts the Accademia di Santa Cecilia
• 17 July - Havergal Brian's 1,000-strong 'Gothic' Symphony
• 18 July - Martha Argerich in Beethoven's Triple Concerto
• 24 July - Verdi's Requiem - Semyon Bychkov conducts the BBCSO, with Marina Poplavskaya, Sonia Ganassi, Joseph Calleja and Ferruccio Furlanetto
• 10 August - Steve Reich plays Steve Reich
• 25 August - Glyndebourne's new Rinaldo, semi-staged
• 4 September - Sir Colin conducts the LSO in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis
• 9 September - Le Freischütz - the Weber opera in Berlioz's French version from JEG et son orchestre

Further visitors include the Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Budapest Festival Orchestras.

For the second year in a row, tickets will be sold online via the 'mad dash' system which left many disappointed last time round. Set your panic button for 9am on Saturday 7 May.

Prices, you will not be surprised to hear, seem to have gone up slightly, though it's hard to tell with so many price bands involved. Season ticket holders should note that this year a pass only guarantees entry up to 20 minutes before the concert starts.

Comments

[amac]

Havergal Brian's 1,000-strong 'Gothic' Symphony

Hopefully that will keep the "why oh why no Brian" people quiet for a few years - but it is the BBC Concert Orchestra !?

One of the most bizarre pairing I have seen

[Sarah R]

Here I voice my 'usual' gripe, namely that I think the Proms programme ought to be published earlier than April. I'll say no more.

I suspect the 20 minute season Ticket promming restriction, so helpfully pointed out by Intermezzo, will not go down well. That was one of the advantages of having a season ticket.

On the subject of Arena season tickets, may I point out to all those who might think that, because of increasing age and/or infirmity, (but not enough to qualify for a blue badge) their promming days are over, this isn't necessarily true. In 2009, quite by chance,(too convoluted to explain here!) I discovered that if you complete an access form saying that you 'find it difficult to stand for long periods of time', you will be admitted to the arena in advance of those in the normal season ticket queue. I was told that the RAH doesn't ask for evidence as this is deemed to be insensitive. This explains why you will see the same people in the Arena seats at many of the concerts. I had a prolonged email correspondance about the unfairness of this policy and suggested that this information should be more widely known, but was told that they had decided against publicising their 'informal policy' of early admission. I was told that the Arena is like a bus; you give up your seat to someone more deserving.

[amac]

To be honest the 10mins (or 20mins) rule is very rarely enforced - the only thing I can remember recently is the Rattle/BPO generating enough interest to trigger it - when queues were round the block. Most concerts you would get in with 10 or 20 seconds to go !

My guess would be that the 10mins doesn't give them enough time to deal with the queue sensibly when it is half way round the block - which is the only time they are likely to need it.

Quite a lot of anecdotal evidence that annual seasons are being brought just for the last night - it might well mean that there is quite a lot of spare capacity to fill on a normal night.

[still asleep]

yaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn

[J M]

Publishing of the program is 3 weeks well in advance of the opening booking period. How much time is it needed to sit down and decide what to see?

I find it perfectly appropriate to be honest, as I do the policy of requesting that people arrive at least 20 minutes in advance to make use of their season ticket.

It is simply unfair on people queuing to make them wait until pretty much the last very minute before they know if they will be allowed in or not.

As for the yawning member of the audience, I saw the program and there are tens of composers with lots of different kind of performers (from the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra to the Pittsburgh one and everything in between). With such variety I just don't understand how anybody serious about music could be possibly yawning.

[Sarah R]

@JM - I totally agree with you that three weeks is ample time to decide which concerts to book for. My point is that by the time the Proms Programme is published, I have already booked tickets for other operas and concerts, mainly at Glyndebourne and Opera Holland Park.