BBC Proms

Sir Simon Rattle at the Proms (2023x16)

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History is made tonight at the Proms as Sir Simon Rattle takes to the Royal Albert Hall stage for his final UK performance as music director of the London Symphony Orchestra. Together, this renowned and dynamic partnership poignantly mark the end of an era with Mahler’s epic, all-encompassing Ninth Symphony. Known as the ‘farewell symphony’, it is shrouded in loss, complete with a dazzling spectrum of joy and despair, and ending in tranquillity and stillness. It’s a poignant choice from Sir Simon to bid his own farewell to the LSO after a fruitful partnership together. This is paired with another powerfully emotive work - Poulenc’s choral masterpiece Figure Humaine. Sir Simon conducts the BBC Singers in this searing hymn to freedom, a musical beacon of resistance and hope written during the Second World War. Katie Derham presents, joined by special guest Dame Sheila Hancock.