BBC Proms

First Night of the Proms (2014x1)

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The largest classical music festival in the world, the BBC Proms also boasts one of the mightiest venues. The Royal Albert Hall is a monument to the same Victorian pomp and splendour that swells through Edward Elgar’s music. What better way to open this season than with the composer’s biblical oratorio The Kingdom – the beautiful ‘slow movement’ of a musical triptych that started with The Apostles, but that would remain unfinished at Elgar’s death. Celebrated Elgarian and Proms favourite Sir Andrew Davis, a Conductor Laureate of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, returns in his 70th-birthday year, joined by a distinguished cast of soloists.