Proms 2024 Prom 70: Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet

Sergey Prokofiev hoped his musical retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet would have ‘immediate appeal yet sound like nothing written before’. Even now, his score delivers on both fronts, showing the composer’s gift for melody and his ability to reconcile his music’s hard edge with a soft, romantic core. Jaime Martín conducts dramatic highlights from Prokofiev’s ballet score after charismatic Franco-Serbian soloist Nemanja Radulović sets off fireworks in the ultimate Romantic violin concerto. And, to begin, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales unleashes the strident energies of Grażyna Bacewicz’s thrilling Overture, which quotes the famous ‘V for Victory’ motif from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3

Image: Nemanja Radulović © Sever Zolak