Nordic forests, Alpine sunlight and a Moorish nocturne. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Thomas Søndergård play Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Excelsior!, Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony and Szymanowski’s opulent symphony subtitled ‘The Song of the Night’.

Richard Egarr and the Academy of Ancient Music play works by Handel and the Roman composers who inspired him. Soprano Sophie Bevan sings two Italian cantatas in a programme including concerti grossi by Corelli and Valentini and keyboard miniatures by Bernardo Pasquini.

Experience some of the vocal writing of Verdi’s Four Sacred Pieces with Mary King.

Sir Antonio Pappano, the Orchestra and Chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome, and soprano Maria Agresta celebrate Verdi’s bicentenary with the Four Sacred Pieces, the original version of the Requiem’s ‘Libera me’, a touching Ave Maria setting and the orchestral version of the great opera composer’s String Quartet.

Stolen gold and a world order in chaos. Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin open the Proms cycle of Wagner’s epic operatic tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung, with a cast hand-picked from Barenboim’s Berlin and Milan productions.

Daniel Barenboim’s Proms Ring cycle with the Staatskapelle Berlin continues with Die Walküre. Simon O’Neill and Anja Kampe sing the roles of the tragic twins Siegmund and Sieglinde, whose doomed love inspires the rebellion of Brünnhilde (sung by Nina Stemme).

Talking birds, dragon’s blood and a ring of fire. Lance Ryan sings the title-role in the third part of Daniel Barenboim’s complete Ring cycle with the Staatskapelle Berlin. Nine Stemme is the rebel Valkyrie, Brünnhilde, who teaches Siegfried love and fear.

Semyon Bychkov and the BBC Symphony Orchestra interrupt the Ring cycle to explore Wagner’s intoxicating tragedy Tristan and Isolde, a turning point in the history of Romantic music. Robert Dean Smith and Violeta Urmana are the illicit lovers.

Daniel Barenboim’s survey of The Ring of the Nibelung with the Staatskapelle Berlin concludes with betrayal, revenge, immolation and the return of the stolen gold to the waters of the Rhine. Nina Stemme sings the role of Brünnhilde, while Mikhail Petrenko is the vengeful Hagen.

Pianist Imogen Cooper, soprano Ruby Hughes, tenor James Gilchrist and guitarist Christoph Denoth mark Britten’s centenary in a sequence of song-cycles and miniatures, from Night Piece (Notturno) to A Charm of Lullabies, My beloved is mine and Abraham and Isaac.