Conductors

Four of Britain’s leading conductors celebrate landmark birthdays this year:

• Donald Runnicles @ 60 conducts the Deutsche Oper Berlin in a performance of Strauss’s Salome (30 August) as well as two concerts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (3 & 4 August)
• Sir Andrew Davis @ 70 conducts the First Night with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (18 July) and the Proms debut of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (19 August)
• Sir Roger Norrington @ 80 conducts Bach’s St John Passion with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra (26 July) before returning for a Prom with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (SWR) (3 September)
• Sir Neville Marriner @ 90 returns for a Prom with the orchestra he founded, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (10 August)

The BBC’s own performing group conductors take centre stage at the Proms this year by not only appearing in their roles with the PGs but also bringing international orchestras with whom they are associated:

• Sir Andrew Davis: Conductor Laureate, BBC Symphony Orchestra (18 July) & Chief Conductor, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (19 August)
• Jiří Bělohlávek: Conductor Laureate, BBC Symphony Orchestra (23 July) & Artistic Director, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (24 August)
• Semyon Bychkov: Günter Wand Conducting Chair, BBC Symphony Orchestra (31 August) & European Union Youth Orchestra (5 August)
• Donald Runnicles: Chief Conductor, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (3 & 4 August) & Music Director, Deutsche Oper Berlin (30 August)
• John Storgårds: Principal Guest Conductor, BBC Philharmonic (14 August) & Artistic Director, Lapland Chamber Orchestra (9 August)

Renowned conductors guiding us through this year’s Proms festival include:

• David Zinman, who gives his last ever performance as Music Director of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich (21 July)
• Bernard Haitink, who in his 85th birthday year returns with the London Symphony Orchestra (16 August)
• Daniel Barenboim, who returns with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra (20 August)
• Marin Alsop, who returns to the Proms to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra (4 September)
• Sir Simon Rattle, who returns to the UK with the Berliner Philharmoniker (5 & 6 September)
• Riccardo Chailly, who conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in two Proms including a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth symphony (11 & 12 September)