The annual BBC Proms festival has begun today. Even though I can only follow the concerts at an awkward remove, with BBC blocking regular broadcast access outside the UK since 2025, I still think of the Proms as the premier summer music festival. The breadth, quality and quantity of concerts on offer is unparalleled. The First Night of the Proms 2026 concert marks the onset of summer festival fever for me, and I’ll be keeping an eye on festivals far and wide for the next couple of months – mostly through the video streaming services including Medici.tv, Digital Concert Hall, and Stage+.
As it happens, BBC’s warm-up show, Radio 3’s Proms Countdown is on air right now as I write, and it is open access for me at home in Canada, so I’m getting into the mood with that little taste of the event. It’s a good show.
For today’s playlist, I’ve chosen reflections from recent years representing some of the highlights of this year’s Proms that I am looking forward to… if and when I find streaming sources (don’t ask).
Tonight’s opening concert has an American theme, in a nod to the 250th anniversary. Copland’s Appalachian Spring, and of course this:
Gershwin: An American in Paris
The star of opening night is the phenomenal young pianist Yunchan Lim, performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G – another subtle nod to America. This seems to be a relatively recent addition to his public repertoire – I notice that he just performed it a few days ago with Marin Alsop and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia festival – so that will be an added draw for those who are able to tune in. For today’s playlist, I’ll have to stick with his warhorse calling card, Rachmaninov No. 3 from his Van Cliburn Competition winning performance in 2022.
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor
The Proms isn’t just about the Royal Albert Hall concerts that give the festival it’s name (for the standing-room floor crowd of “promenaders”); they also include plenty of events at alternate venues and in late-night time slots. Next week, on July 21, I’m looking forward to Late Night Baroque, with the lively period-instrument collective Jupiter Ensemble. Their programme is Purcell and Downland.
Purcell: “Now the night is chased away” from The Fairy Queen
