On the 26th April, the BBC Proms' 2022 season was announced, with Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash, Gemma Summerfield, Helen Charlston and Matthew Brook appearing at the Royal Albert Hall this summer. A short work by the late Sir Harrison Birtwistle will also feature, in one of Sir Simon Rattle's last appearances at the BBC Proms as Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra.
Prom 7 will feature soprano Gemma Summerfield, who makes her BBC Proms debut this summer as a soloist singing the role of Belinda in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and also Helen Charlston making her Proms debut singing the role of First Witch. For this late night Prom on Tuesday 19th July, they will perform with La Nuova Musica, conducted by David Bates. Gemma was awarded First Prize at the 2022 Tenor Viñas Contest and the 2019 Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino, and was a finalist in the inaugural Glyndebourne Opera Cup in 2018. Helen is currently with Le Jardin des Voix academy with Les Arts Florissants, and the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, and became winner of the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize in the 2021 Kathleen Ferrier Awards.
For Prom 45 on Sunday 21st August, sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan returns to the Proms for a morning of Indian classical music with his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash. The sarod trio represent the sixth and seventh generations in the legendary Senia Bangash School, and are credited with reinventing the technique of playing the sarod. They are Wigmore Hall Associate Artists for the next five years, and previous UK appearances include concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, Kensington Palace, Darbar Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, and WOMAD Festival, with esteemed orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
Prom 49 on the 24th August, one of Sir Simon Rattle's last Proms as Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra, will include a short tribute piece from Sir Harrison Birtwistle. 'Donum Simoni MMXVIII' was written by Birtwistle in 2018, to celebrate Rattle's first full season with the LSO, and opened the 18/19 season at the Barbican. Many of Birtwistle's works have been performed at the BBC Proms, including most notably Panic, commissioned for the 1995 Last Night of the Proms, the full second act of The Mask of Orpheus in 2009, and the world premiere of The Moth Requiem, performed by the BBC Singers in 2013.
Prom 57 on the 29th August features Matthew Brook singing Bach's B minor Mass with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by John Butt. Matthew's recent Bach performances include the St Matthew Passion with the Orchestra of St Luke's in New York and Bernard Labadie, and also with Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Paul McCreesh. The Dunedin Consort's Ich habe genug disc with Matthew and John Butt has been nominated for a BBC Music Magazine award.
Read the full BBC Proms 2022 programme here.
