SOON TO BE ANNOUNCED: THE FULL PROGRAMME FOR 2024
CLICK ON THE LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TICKET AVAILABILITY AND THE LAST WEEK OF THE BBC 2023 PROM PROGRAMME.
Most of us are familiar with the BBC’s “Last Night of the Proms”, with the rousing audience participation in Land of Hope and Glory, and many other iconic British anthems.
We are less familiar with the enormous range of proms put on all over the UK during the summer months.
Until July, I had never been to a prom, assuming they are wildly expensive and exclusive to a certain kind of music snob.
I have been proved wrong on both counts, and I thought it would be helpful to tell people about the range of events the BBC put on, as there is a lot of controversy over the TV licence fee, and the assumption that the bulk of it goes to pay the very generous salaries of some of their celebrity presenters, and the top level executives.
Due to the popularity of some composers, any time they are on the programme, the tickets sell out rapidly, so if you are now thinking of giving it a try next year, bear in mind to look at the list of events early.
Having said that, I am a big fan of Rachmaninov and Shostakovitch, so when I was offered an opportunity to select an event, that was a first choice. It turned out that all the tickets were sold out on the day we tried to buy two. Just two days later, we were looking for something else and just took another look at the 26th July and were delighted to find we could buy two tickets which had been returned.
Returned tickets don’t let you make a choice of seating, you take what you can get.
Imagine our surprise to arrive at the Royal Albert Hall and being told we had seats in one of the boxes. Don’t presume that is a regular occurrence, but sometimes luck can be on your side.
You can read my rave review for the Prom on 18th August here.
THE PROMS ARE NOT ONLY PERFORMED AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL, I HAVE ATTACHED A LIST OF VENUES THAT HOSTED PROMS IN 2023