Every day for the rest of the summer, you can hear the world’s oldest and largest music festival for free at home.
The BCC Proms is once again set to broadcast major concerts from London’s Royal Albert Hall, as well as performances from Bristol, Gateshead, and Bradford and special programs from Belfast and Sunderland.
Outdoor promenade concerts in London’s gardens existed from the middle of the 18th century and moved indoors beginning in 1838. But the current Proms series dates from 1895.
The festival’s conductor then was Henry Wood, who over many years became so associated with the offerings that they are now officially named after him (the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts), and his bust is placed in the Royal Albert Hall for every Proms season. The BBC took over as presenter in 1927.
2025 is expected to see a diverse range of musical styles and artistic themes, including a focus on space and science fiction, a celebration of Dmitri Shostakovich’s music, and tributes to Bernard Herrmann and Viennese waltzes.
Opening night 2025 is slated for July 18. “Last Night of the Proms,” this year conducted by Elim Chan, concludes the festival on Sept. 13. Most concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. British Summer Time (11:30 a.m. Pacific); in the highlights list below, the time is given only when different.
Listeners outside the U.K. can catch the first few concerts on the BBC Radio 3 website but beginning July 21 should head to the broadcaster’s new audio tab online.
Some of the highlights of the 2025 Proms:
July 21 — Tenor Allan Clayton gives the world premiere of Tom Coult’s Monologues for the Curious, with John Storgårds conducting the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 on the second half.
July 22 — Conductor Anja Bihlmaier leads the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in the world premiere of Mark Simpson’s ZEBRA, Richard Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration, and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.
July 23 (2:15 p.m. Pacific) — Ensemble intercontemporain celebrates the centennial of the birth of two 20th-century modernist icons, performing Pierre Boulez’s Dialogue de l’ombre double and Luciano Berio’s Recital I and Sequenza V.
July 27 — Soloist Mariam Batsashvili joins conductor Ryan Wigglesworth and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20, followed on the program by Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7.
July 30 — Vadym Kholodenko is the soloist in Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with conductor Tadaaki Otaka and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales also playing Grażyna Bacewicz’s Concerto for String Orchestra and Witold Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra.
July 31 (2:15 p.m. Pacific) — The 90th birthday of composer Arvo Pärt, “the father of holy minimalism,” is celebrated by conductor Tõnu Kaljuste and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.
Aug. 1 — Yunchan Lim is the soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 4, with conductor Kazuki Yamada and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra taking on Berio’s Sinfonia after intermission.
Aug. 2 — The Hallé’s new principal conductor, Kahchun Wong, directs his Manchester-based forces in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”), with soprano Mari Eriksmoen and mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo as soloists.
Aug. 6 — “Beethoven and Bartók From Budapest” spotlights conductor Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, with mezzo-soprano Dorottya Láng as Judith and bass Krisztián Cser as Bluebeard.
Aug. 11 — Ryan Bancroft conducts Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, performed by the combined forces of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestre National de Bretagne, CBSO Children’s Chorus, and BBC National Chorus of Wales, with mezzo-soprano soloist Beth Taylor.
Aug. 16 (11 a.m. Pacific) — Conductor Nicholas Collon and Aurora Orchestra mark the 50th anniversary of Shostakovich’s death by taking the audience “under the hood” of the composer’s Symphony No. 5.
Aug. 26 — The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, with Music Director Andris Nelsons, performs Jean Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 and Antonín Dvořák’s Violin Concerto with soloist Hilary Hahn.
Aug. 27 (10:30 a.m. Pacific) — Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, in a concert staging courtesy of the Glyndebourne Festival, is conducted by Riccardo Minasi and features the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
