BBC Proms 2008
Broadcasting the Proms
The BBC Proms is available to the widest possible audience via BBC Radio, Television and online.
- All Proms broadcast live on BBC Radio 3
- All Proms streamed live online and available on-demand for seven days
- Many Proms-related programes on Radio 3 to complement the season
- Regular weekly broadcasts on BBC Two for the first time in addition to regular weekly broadcasts on BBC Four providing an easily navigable Proms schedule on BBC TV
- BBC iPlayer extends viewing opportunities with all televised concerts available to watch for seven days after transmission
For the first time BBC Two has a regular weekly presence at the Proms throughout the season, broadcasting many of the outstanding moments at primetime every Saturday night, in addition to its coverage of the first and last nights.
This regular pattern on BBC Two offers a mixture of complete concerts and selections from the season's most eagerly anticipated performances, and celebrates such events as Nigel Kennedy returning to the Proms after 20 years, anniversaries including the Hallé and Vaughan Williams, and to resurrect the Proms concept of Beethoven Night, with plenty of insight and background to the music and musicians featured.
BBC Four also offers audiences a consistent pattern of concerts across the season, with Proms concerts every Sunday and Monday evening for seven weeks with a change of pattern mid-season to include a pair of concerts given by two of the world's greatest conductors – Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez.
Most of the BBC Four programmes are live from the Royal Albert Hall, though some of the most sought-after concerts of the season, including Sir Simon Rattle with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the World Music Celebration, which fall on other days of the week, will also be recorded for future broadcast during the season ensuring audiences have the chance to see, as well as hear, the best the season has to offer.
For the first time the BBC iPlayer will enable audiences to watch all televised Proms for seven days after the original broadcast. All BBC Two transmissions will also be available on BBC HD TV in 5.1 surround sound for the first time, extending viewing opportunities even further.
BBC One continues its long-standing coverage of the second half of the last night of the Proms and is recording the Doctor Who Prom for broadcast later in the year.
Red button services for digital TV viewers (satellite, cable and Freeview) continue with detailed background notes on each concert. On the last night of the Proms, audiences can choose between live relays of the BBC Proms In The Park concerts from around the country by pressing the red button.
All BBC Proms are broadcast live on Radio 3. Listeners can hear repeat broadcasts of most concerts each weekday in Afternoon On 3. BBC Proms Chamber Music concerts are broadcast live from Cadogan Hall and repeated the following Saturday (2.00pm) and the four BBC Proms Composer Portraits are broadcast on the same day of recording, after the evening's Prom.
All Proms are streamed live online at bbc.co.uk/radio3 and available on-demand via the BBC iPlayer for seven days after the broadcast.
The new Proms Plus events, which take place daily at the Royal College of Music, present new ways to put the broadcast concerts in their wider musical and cultural contexts.
Many of the introductory events – talks, interviews and panel discussions – will be recorded and edited for broadcast on Radio 3 during the interval of the concert which follows. Others will be available online afterwards at bbc.co.uk/proms – the first time pre-concert events have been offered to audiences in this way.
For the first time, Radio 3's In Tune programme will come from the Royal College of Music in front of a live Proms audience on the opening night, and regular programmes with Proms-related content across the station will enhance the Proms experience for listeners.
There will be artist interviews, features and Proms news on programmes such as In Tune, performers and composers joining presenters at concerts, previews in breakfast, discussions of relevant recordings by Proms artists or of Proms repertoire in CD Review and more.
Listeners to Radio 3 via DAB digital radio will be able to view "now playing" details. The season is also available to listeners throughout Europe, North America and across the world via the European Broadcasting Union, as well as online via the BBC Proms website.
The BBC Proms website continues to be the primary source for the most up-to-date information about the programme of concerts and events, artists and repertoire, also inviting audiences to participate in debate by submitting their own reviews and joining the lively discussions on the message board.
Online users are offered a wealth of background on the unique history of the world's greatest music festival and unprecedented insight into the season. Listeners can access detailed notes about the music featured in each evening's concert, available one hour before each concert, complementing the BBC Proms broadcast experience.
The BBC Proms will once again create a special WAP site for the season enabling users to access information via their mobile phones, including listings, updates, booking and broadcast information.
Broadcast listsings
BBC Proms are broadcast live on Radio 3 and online, and additonal events are as follows:
- BBC Proms Chamber Music concerts are broadcast live on Radio 3 on Mondays at 1.00pm and repeated the following Saturday at 2.00pm.
- BBC Proms Composer Portraits will be broadcast on Radio 3 immediately after that evening's Prom (see Proms Plus for details of Composer Portraits). Throughout the season on Radio 3, programmes will feature Proms-related material.
- Proms Preview Evening (Thursday 17 July, 7.00–8.45pm) Petroc Trelawny previews the season's programme, plus interviews with selected Proms performers and composers.
- In Tune (weekdays, 5.00pm–start of Prom) features interviews, performances and news surrounding the Proms season, presented by Sean Rafferty including In Tune's first live on-location outside broadcast on the first night (Friday 18 July, 5.00pm)
- Breakfast (weekdays, 7.00–10.00am; weekends, 7.00–9.00am) – Rob Cowan, Sara Mohr-Pietsch and Martin Handley present music and updates on the season.
- Summer CD Review (Saturdays, 9.00am–12noon) Andrew McGregor features new releases and re-issues from artists and orchestras appearing at the Proms.
- Classical Collection (Monday–Friday, 10.00am–12noon) Sarah Walker and James Jolly present their favourite recordings of works featured throughout this year's Proms.
- Afternoon On 3 (weekdays, 2.00pm–5.00pm) will include repeat broadcast of BBC Proms concerts.
- Twenty Minutes Talks and features broadcast in the intervals of evening Proms, some of which will be drawn from the new Proms Plus events.
- Artist Focus (most weekdays, 10.30–11.00pm) will explore music by selected artists featured across the season.
A special programme will be devoted to this year's BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers' competition and will be broadcast on Radio 3 between the two Proms on Friday 8 August.
BBC Television
BBC Two (and High Definition TV)
| 18 Jul | First night of the Proms (BBC SO/Bělohlávek) | Live |
| 26 Jul | Nigel Kennedy Night (Proms 2 & 3) | Recorded |
| 2 Aug | Hallé 150th anniversary (Prom 16) | Recorded |
| 9 Aug | BBC CO/The King's Singers (Proms 31 and 26) | Live/Recorded |
| 16 Aug | Great Conductors – Barenboim and Boulez (Proms 38 & 40) | Recorded |
| 23 Aug | National Youth Orchestra/Pappano (Prom 49) | Live/deferred |
| 30 Aug | Vaughan Williams anniversary (Prom 54) | Recorded |
| 6 Sep | Beethoven (Proms 15 & 62) | Recorded |
| 13 Sep | Last night, part one (BBC SO/Norrington) | Live |
BBC Four
| 20 Jul | Folk Night | Live |
| 21 Jul | Messiaen/Saint-Saëns – Latry; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Chung | Live |
| 27 Jul | Messiaen – BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Fischer | Live/deferred |
| 28 Jul | Beethoven/Elliott Carter – BBC SO/Robertson | Live |
| 3 Aug | Beethoven/Mahler – BBC SSO/Runnicles | Live |
| 4 Aug | World Music Celebration (part one) | Recorded |
| 10 Aug | The King's Singers | Recorded |
| 14 Aug | West-Eastern Divan Orchestra/Barenboim | Live/deferred |
| 15 Aug | Janáček – BBC SO/Boulez | Live |
| 17 Aug | City of London Sinfonia/BBC Singers/Hickox | Live |
| 18 Aug | World Music Celebration (part two) | Recorded |
| 24 Aug | JS Bach St John Passion – Gardiner | Live/deferred |
| 25 Aug | Prokofiev/Tchaikovsky – RPO/Gatti | Live/deferred |
| 31 Aug | Lang Lang recital | Recorded |
| 1 Sep | Beethoven/Sibelius – Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester/Davis | Live/deferred |
| 7 Sep | Brahms/Shostakovich – Berliner Philharmoniker/Rattle | Recorded |
| 8 Sep | Turnage/Mahler – Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Haitink | Live |
BBC One (and High Definition TV)
| 13 Sep | Last night, part two (BBC SO/Norrington) | Live |
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