Today at the Proms - Prom 12

Continuing our daily coverage of what's on at The Proms 2019, Susan Omand has a quick look at the programme for Prom 12: National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain ...



Two incredibly famous works are being played tonight by the National Youth Orchestra, along with one from a composer that has not crossed my radar before.



On doing a bit of research, Lera Auerbach is a Soviet-Russian-born American classical composer and pianist. She defected to the US in 1991 on a concert trip and got into Julliard to continue her musical training. The work being played tonight, for the first time in London, is a symphonic poem inspired by the legend of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, but is also part of a larger work, her first symphony, Chimera.

On to more well known music with Tchaikovsky and, even if you don't recognise the title, you will know the music of his only Violin Concerto as it has been used as a soundtrack piece in everything from Monty Python to The Goonies. You will also know the soloist tonight as it is the wonderful Nicola Benedetti.

The final work tonight is even more well known than that with a suite from Prokofiev's (he of Peter and the Wolf) ballet Romeo and Juliet. I guess we'll just have to hope that it's Suite 2 so that we get to hear Montagues and Capulets aka Dance of the Knights aka the theme from a certain TV show. Or, I guess, someone may get fired...

Here's the full programme for this evening's Prom which you can listen to live from 19:30 on Radio 3 or on the iPlayer 



Lera Auerbach
Icarus(12 mins)London premiere

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto in D major(35 mins)

INTERVAL

Sergei Prokofiev
Romeo and Juliet(50 mins)excerpts




Image - Photo © Chris Christodoulou