Performances in this series:
Previous performances in this tour:
Shostakovich’s Fifth by Heart (Sun 17 August 2025)
Shostakovich’s Fifth by Heart (Sat 16 August 2025)
Aurora returns to the BBC Proms with a signature memorised and dramatised performance. This year, we unwrap Shostakovich’s gripping Fifth Symphony.
Explore a symphony from the inside out. Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra reflect this year’s Shostakovich anniversary with a Prom that takes the audience under the hood of a 20th-century masterpiece and into the mind of the man who made it. Actors Max Revell, Polly Frame, Craig Stein and Sarah Twomey join our players to bring to life a symphony born in the shadow of Stalin’s regime – music on the edge of life and death by a composer treading a dangerous line between political obedience and artistic defiance.
Co-produced by Aurora Orchestra and the BBC Proms, developed in collaboration with Frantic Assembly.
It will be broadcast on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer, date to be announced.
Audio-described by Timna Fibert
British Sign Language-interpreted