Proms free curtain raiser: Five Telegrams: Sender

In a BBC Proms first 5,000 people will have the opportunity to witness the Royal Albert Hall as it has never been seen before. In a unique coming together of music and projections, spectacular visuals will be projected onto the external façade of the Royal Albert Hall, whilst a brand new score by composer Anna Meredith will be transmitted live from within the Royal Albert Hall.

This free event will give audiences an opportunity to see a multifaceted work ahead of the much anticipated First Night Of The Proms. Here, Meredith’s music and 59 Productions’ extraordinary visuals come together in Five Telegrams: Sender performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Proms Youth Ensemble, National Youth Choir of Great Britain and conductor Sakari Oramo.

Richard Slaney, Managing Director of 59 Productions, says: "59 Productions are thrilled to be transforming the iconic facade of the Royal Albert Hall with bespoke projections, and in doing so hope to bring a taste of the BBC Proms to a brand new audience. The Telegrams and communication themes from the First World War have proved extremely rich source material, and in combination with Anna’s score we hope that audiences find this opening event both boldly eye-catching as well as thought-provoking."

Anna Meredith says: "I’m so excited that we are bringing Five Telegrams to both the inside and outside of the RAH. It’s been such a privilege to work with 59 Productions, who are world leaders on these kinds of large-scale events, and we’ve worked hard to produce a piece designed to work on this huge canvas. I’ve loved writing with these kinds of big gestures in mind and hope that this event will be a dramatic start to the Proms season as well as opening it up to new audiences."

Five Telegrams: Sender is both an audio and visual work that draws upon contemporary responses to the communication infrastructure of the First World War as the BBC Proms commemorates the end of the ‘Great War’ in its centenary year. The work is a joint commission for the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival and 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary, in collaboration with the Royal Albert Hall.

Considered one of Britain’s most eclectic and innovative artists, Anna Meredith’s music has been performed worldwide including at the BBC Proms’ iconic, Last Night Of The Proms. 59 Productions are the multi award-winning company of artists behind the design and creative direction of the record-breaking David Bowie Is  exhibition, video design of the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the projection design of The Nutcracker, staged at the Royal Albert Hall in 2017.

Free tickets are available from 9am on 22 June 2018 via the BBC Proms website 

Tickets are free but must be booked in advance. 

Please note that there will be bag searches carried out and only small bags should be brought to the event.

Five Telegrams: Sender will be available to watch in full via BBC iPlayer on Friday 13 July, following full coverage of the First Night of the Proms on BBC Two.

RN

Notes to Editors

BBC Proms
As the world’s biggest classical music festival, the BBC Proms offers eight weeks of world-class music-making from a vast array of leading orchestras, conductors and soloists from the UK and around the world. Across more than 90 concerts - and a similar number of free events designed to extend and further enrich the audience’s Proms experience - the festival aims to offer a summer of music that allows for the most diverse and exciting musical journeys. More than 120 years since it was founded, the driving factor in building a festival of this scale is to offer exceptional music-making at the lowest possible prices, continuing founder-conductor Henry Wood’s original ambition of bringing the best classical music to the widest possible audience. With every Prom broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, available across multiplatform and many televised on the BBC, the Proms reaches far and beyond the Royal Albert Hall. The 2018 BBC Proms runs from Friday 13 July to Saturday 8 September 2018.

Edinburgh International Festival
Five Telegrams opens the Edinburgh International Festival on Friday 3rd August at 10.30pm. The event is a free, outdoor performance featuring large-scale projections on the Usher Hall by 59 Productions, in tandem with Anna Meredith’s score and a live choral performance from a specially assembled youth chorus. Tickets are available to book from Monday 2 July and more information can be found at eif.co.uk.

About the BBC Symphony Orchestra
At the heart of British music for over 80 years, the BBC Symphony Orchestra performs an exciting, distinctive and wide-ranging season of concerts at the Barbican in its role as Associate Orchestra, offering everything from works at the heart of classical music to world premieres from today’s finest composers. The BBC SO provides the backbone of the BBC Proms, performing around a dozen concerts each year, including the First and Last Nights. It performs throughout the world, and works regularly with its Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo, Semyon Bychkov, its Günter Wand Conducting Chair and Conductor Laureate Sir Andrew Davis. Strongly committed to twentieth-century and contemporary music, it has given recent premieres of works by Harrison Birtwistle, Betsy Jolas, George Walker and Raymond Yui. Announced on Tuesday, as part of the Barbican Centre’s 18/19 season launch, the BBC Symphony Orchestra will be joined by presenter Brian Cox and conductor Ben Gernon for an exploration of Holst’s iconic score The Planets, 100 years to the day since the work received its premiere. Central to its life are recordings made for BBC Radio 3 during sessions at its studios in Maida Vale, London, some of which are free for the public to attend. The vast majority of its concerts are broadcast on BBC Radio 3, streamed live online, and a number are televised, giving it the highest broadcast profile of any UK orchestra. Among ongoing learning projects are the BBC SO Plus Family scheme, which introduces families to live classical music, BBC SO Family Orchestra and Chorus, Total Immersion composer events, and work in local schools.

About the Proms Youth Ensemble
The BBC Proms Youth Ensemble offers talented young musicians the opportunity to perform exciting new music at the world’s greatest classical music festival while developing their ensemble skills through mentoring from a dedicated team of professional musicians. The BBC Proms Youth Ensemble 2018 will be made up of 26 young musicians aged 16-25 from across the UK. As part of the First Night of the Proms celebrations, this year’s ensemble will be performing specially commissioned work Five Telegrams from memory, alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, conducted by Sakari Oramo.

About the National Youth Choir of Great Britain
Founded in 1983 as a single choir of 100 of the best singers in the nation, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain is now the flagship ensemble of NYCGB , an internationally-recognised youth choral organisation, Arts Council England National Portfolio member and registered charity which runs five membership choirs, a nationwide outreach programme for schools and Music Hubs, and provides professional development opportunities for the next generation of choral singers, composers and leaders.

About 59 Productions
59 Productions is the multi award-winning company of artists behind the video design of multiple productions including globe-trotting National Theatre smash hit, War Horse Led by directors Leo Warner, Mark Grimmer, Lysander Ashton and Richard Slaney, 59 Productions offers world-leading expertise in design for stage and live events. They are the go-to team for generating creative and technical ideas to realise ambitious artistic projects across a range of disciplines: from architectural projection-mapping to exhibition design, VR experiences to events, theatrical design to technical consultancy.

About 14-18 NOW
14-18 NOW is a programme of extraordinary arts experiences connecting people with the First World War, as part of the UK’s official centenary commemorations. It commissions new work by leading contemporary artists across all art forms; the programme has included over 200 artists from 35 countries, taking place in 160 locations across the UK. Over 30 million people have experienced a project so far, including 7.5 million children and young people. 16.7 million people took part in LIGHTS OUT in 2014, and 63% of the population were aware of Jeremy Deller’s, ‘We’re here because we’re here’. The UK tour of the poppy sculptures by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper has been seen by over 3.75 million people to date. 14-18 NOW has won many awards for its work, including the National Lottery Heritage Award, 2017. 2018 is the final season, marking 100 years since the end of the First World War. 14-18 NOW is supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, by the DCMS with additional funding from The Backstage Trust, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Clore Duffield Foundation, NatWest and support from individuals.