Promenade concerts are an annual festival of classical music concerts held at London’s Royal Albert Hall from mid-July until mid-September. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) organizes and promotes the concerts, which are usually called the BBC Proms. The programs include chamber music, opera, and orchestral and choral works. The BBC’s chief house orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, performs about six of the concerts, with other BBC orchestras and ensembles performing a few others. Many other orchestras, ensembles, and soloists from around the world also perform.
The concerts are called promenades because members of the audience may stand or promenade (walk about), as well as sit. The Hall can seat more than 5,000 people, but about 1,000 people are allowed to stand for the Proms in the Hall’s arena and gallery section for cheaper ticket prices. The standing audience provides an informal atmosphere at the concerts. The final concert of the season, “The Last Night of the Proms,” has become a famous British tradition. In the second half of the concert, the audience joins in singing several patriotic numbers. The Last Night celebrations may also include events in London’s Hyde Park and in other locations around the United Kingdom.
Promenade concerts were first presented in England in 1838. In 1895, a former singer named Robert Newman founded the concerts that developed into the BBC Proms. These concerts took place in the Queen’s Hall, which Newman managed. After the Queen’s Hall was destroyed in 1941 during a World War II air raid, the concerts moved to their current home in the Royal Albert Hall. The BBC took over the promotion of the Proms in 1927.
The official title of the Proms is the BBC Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, named in honor of the English conductor Sir Henry Wood, who conducted many of the concerts from 1895 until his death in 1944.
See also London (The arts) .
