Aurora at the BBC Proms
17 April 2019
A diabolical witches’ sabbath, a riotous ball, a march to the scaffold…
For this year’s BBC Proms, we bring to life the fantastical world of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, performing the piece from memory in our largest Orchestral Theatre production to date with two performances at the Proms.
In this specially-devised production directed and conceived by our in-house team of creatives, we invite audiences on an orchestral adventure to experience Berlioz’s vivid fantasy of tragedy and passion in new and engaging ways. The production will dive into the music, drama and story behind the imaginative work, incorporating Berlioz’s own words about his music, elements of design, lighting and choreography, as well as featuring actor Mathew Baynton.
Since 2016 as Associate Orchestra at Southbank Centre, we’ve staged a richly varied collection of Orchestral Theatre productions that span diverse musical genres and art forms, so we’re very excited to bring this Orchestral Theatre concert format to the Proms for the first time. And there’ll be not one, but two chances to catch it at both an evening and late-night Prom in September! If you can’t make it to London, then tune in to the live radio broadcast or catch it on television.
And, of course, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique isn’t our only Proms event. We head into our eleventh year performing at BBC Proms Inspire (13 August), a concert featuring the winning pieces by young composers from the 2019 BBC Proms Inspire Competition.
BBC Proms
Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique
Thu 12 September
Royal Albert Hall
7pm Prom
10.15pm Late-night Prom
(Tickets go on sale 11 May for the general public.)
We are grateful to the New Berlioz Edition Trust for its support of this project.
And if you’d like to experience the Orchestral Theatre ahead of our Prom, we start our Music of the Spheres tour soon with Singapore and then touring around the UK (26 May–5 June). Music of the Spheres explores the cosmos and celestial sounds incorporating visuals, choreography and animations, and featuring Mozart’s ‘Jupiter’ symphony performed from memory.