Conductors
In a strong year for conductors, several give more than one Prom. Leading the pack is Daniel Barenboim, who conducts all nine Beethoven Symphonies over five Proms with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra.
Sir Mark Elder conducts four Proms, including the First Night as part of a ‘baton-passing’ concert also featuring Martyn Brabbins, Sir Roger Norrington and Edward Gardner. Jirí Belohlávek marks his final year as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra by leading it through four Proms, including the Last Night.
Martyn Brabbins conducts three Proms, while John Adams leads two performances featuring his own works, City Noir (16 July) and Nixon in China (5 September).
Other leading conductors giving two concerts in 2012 include Riccardo Chailly, Nicholas Collon, Thierry Fischer, Edward Gardner, Bernard Haitink, Juanjo Mena, Sir Roger Norrington, Vasily Petrenko, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles and John Wilson.
There are appearances by four leading female conductors this season: JoAnn Falletta conducting the Ulster Orchestra and Ulster Youth Orchestra of Northern Ireland in a programme of Chabrier, Stravinsky, a BBC commission from Elaine Agnew and Sir James Galway performing Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major (4 August); Susanna Mälkki conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra in a programme of Prokofiev and Bartók (13 August); Marin Alsop conducting the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in a programme of Dvorák, Copland, Ginastera, Villa Lobos and Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman (15 August); and Jane Glover conducting the BBC Singers and BBC Concert Orchestra in a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Yeomen of the Guard (19 August).
