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Proms 2026
28 Jul 2026, Royal Albert Hall
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19:00 Tue 28 Jul 2026 Next Event

Proms 2026 Sibelius’s Second

Prom 16
Sibelius’s Second
19:00 Tue 28 Jul 2026 Royal Albert Hall
Guy Johnston is the soloist in Benjamin Britten’s Cello Symphony. He joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo, who also perform Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 and the UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen Suite
Guy Johnston is the soloist in Benjamin Britten’s Cello Symphony. He joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo, who also perform Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 and the UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen Suite

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Sibelius’s Second

Fifty years since Benjamin Britten’s death, former BBC Young Musician winner Guy Johnston brings the composer’s Cello Symphony to the Proms. Originally written for Mstislav Rostropovich, it’s the composer at his most intense: a tour de force for the soloist, set against a brooding, often eerie orchestral backdrop. There’s darkness in Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 as well – gloriously thrown aside in the glowing finale – but is it the weight of Russian political oppression or of personal loss? The concert opens with the UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen Suite, adapted from the composer’s multi-Olivier-Award-winning 2025 opera.

Guy Johnston © Frances Marshall

Part of

Proms 2026

Discover the Music

Proms 2026 Calendar

  1. July
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    27 28 29 30 31
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  2. August
    MTWTFSS
    27
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    31
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  3. September
    MTWTFSS
    31
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