We are proud that pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, who attended Junior Academy before completing both her undergraduate and Master’s degrees at the Academy, takes centre stage at the first night of the Proms, performing Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Elim Chan.
Two weeks later, Isata’s siblings and fellow Academy alumni, Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, join forces with recent Academy graduate Plínio Fernandes and Tom Fetherstonhaugh’s Fantasia Orchestra for a programme of songs and dances from Brahms to Bacharach (4 Aug). The strong Academy representation in this concert also runs through the orchestra, with over half of the players either being attendees of Junior Academy or Academy graduates. Fantasia Orchestra was founded by Tom in 2016 while he was attending Junior Academy, where he met Braimah and Sheku.
As the festival continues through the summer, many other Academy alumni can be seen performing as soloists in the Royal Albert Hall and beyond: Christopher Maltman features in the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s evening of music about London, performing a selection of reflective songs by Charles Villiers Stanford (13 Aug); Allan Clayton is the tenor soloist in Britten’s War Requiem, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Antonio Pappano (17 Aug); Visiting Professor Timothy Ridout takes the role of viola soloist in Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante (20 Aug); Dame Evelyn Glennie, who received an honorary degree at the Academy’s Graduation Ceremony earlier this month, showcases Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto at the Bristol Beacon with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (25 Aug) and David Butt Philip and Brindley Sherratt feature as soloists in the Czech Philharmonic’s showcase of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass (28 Aug).
Soprano Nardus Williams stars in two concerts at the Proms in September. She first appears alongside the Academy’s Dean of Students, leading lutenist Elizabeth Kenny, for a programme they devised together which explores themes of women’s voices in antiquity (1 Sep). Nardus then features as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah alongside choirs from across the country in the culmination of the BBC Proms Choral Day (7 Sep).
‘Maintaining the legacy of our alumnus Sir Henry Wood, this year’s Proms is brimming with former students, professors and visiting luminaries. From tonight’s opening concert with Isata Kanneh-Mason to the last night with Sir Stephen Hough – and all the countless concerts in between – it is truly wonderful to see so many Academy people take centre stage in one of the most significant events in the musical calendar.’
Jonathan Freeman-Attwood
Several of the Academy’s distinguished alumni will lead orchestras at the festival this summer: Edward Gardner conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert with fellow alum Benjamin Grosvenor, who features as the soloist in Busoni’s Piano Concerto (5 Aug); Chloe Rooke takes the reins of both the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and London Sinfonietta in a performance of Heiner Goebbels’s Songs of Wars I Have Seen (9 Aug); Robert Ames conducts the London Contemporary Orchestra in a programme of cinema and television soundtracks of the 21st century (14 Aug); Ilan Volkov leads the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a celebration of the past 100 years of American jazz (15 Aug); Daniele Rustioni brings his Ulster Orchestra to the Royal Albert Hall for Dvořák’s Symphony No 7 (18 Aug) and Sir Simon Rattle makes his first Proms appearance as the new Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, showcasing Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony and Mahler’s Sixth Symphony in back-to back concerts (5 and 6 Sep). Additionally, the Chineke! Orchestra, founded by Academy alum and Professor of Double Bass Chi-Chi Nwanoku, returns once again to the Proms to perform Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and Sixth Symphony (8 Sep).
Also at the helm of orchestras are some of the Academy’s professors and regular collaborators. Ryan Wigglesworth conducts an all-English programme with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (26 Jul), and John Wilson leads the Sinfonia of London in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and other American classics (4 Aug). Furthermore, Lawrence Power appears with the BBC Philharmonic as the soloist in a new viola concerto by Cassandra Miller (31 July), and Sir Stephen Hough performs Saint‐Saëns’s Piano Concerto No 5 at the last night of the Proms (14 Sep).
We are excited that Garsington Opera’s debut at the Proms sees a host of Academy alumni take to the stage in Britten’s A Midsummer Night's Dream (10 Sep). Celebrated singers Lucy Crowe and Iestyn Davies perform the two lead roles in this production, alongside recent graduates Stephanie Wake-Edwards and Camilla Harris who take on main roles in the cast.
Finally, we look forward to hearing compositions of Academy alumni in the Royal Albert Hall this summer. Karl Jenkins’s Stravaganza, written especially for the Saxophonist Jess Gillam, will be performed by Jess and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (12 Aug), and the European premier of Jacob Collier’s World O World will be presented by the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers as part of the BBC Proms Choral Day (7 Sep).