Lates, lunchtimes and matinees

Late Night Proms

Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe – better known as electro-pop duo the Pet Shop Boys – open the 2014 Late Night series in a programme combining new orchestral arrangements of some of their most personal songs with the world premiere of a brand-new work, A Man fromthe Future, based on the life and work of Alan Turing who, in December 2013, was granted a royal pardon for his conviction for homosexuality almost 60 years after his death (23 July).

In the second of two Proms, Les Arts Florissants perform a programme of Rameau under their Music Director William Christie, marking 250 years since the death of the French Baroque master (29 July).

100 years to the day that Britain declared war on Germany, we mark the anniversary with one of John Tavener’s most famous works Ikon of Light, complemented by the world premiere of Requiem Fragments, commissioned for the Proms by the BBC before the composer’s death in 2013 (4 August).

In a recreation of Count Basie and Duke Ellington’s legendary Battle of the Bands, Clare Teal presents an evening that promises to take us back to New York City in the late 1930s and which will be broadcast live on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 2 (8 August).

The BBC Singers and the Endymion ensemble come together to explore Steve Reich’s pulsating minimalist rhythms in performances of It’s Gonna Rain and The Desert Music (13 August).

In a major new orchestral work commissioned by the BBC for the Proms, Benedict Mason explores the Royal Albert Hall as it’s never been explored before, using the space to create a brand new musical landscape (16 August).

Following her extraordinary debut at the 2013 Proms, Laura Mvula returns for a Prom of her own featuring the Metropole Orchestra and conductor Jules Buckley, with whom she collaborated last year (19 August).

Beethoven’s Missa solemnis will be given an all-star outing with the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir (in its 50th-anniversary year) under Sir John Eliot Gardiner with soloists Lucy Crowe, Jennifer Johnston, Michael Spyres and Matthew Rose (26 August).

BRIT Award-nominated singer-songwriter Paloma Faith makes her Proms debut in a Late Night Prom of her work arranged by Guy Barker for his 42-piece jazz orchestra and backed by the Urban Voices Collective (5 September).

On the day of his 80th birthday the music of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies will be celebrated in a programme of his work ranging from the London premiere of Ebb of Winter to An Orkney Wedding with Sunrise, with its famous bagpipes solo (8 September).

The final Late Night Prom of 2014 sees singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright performing a selection of his songs in new arrangements with the Britten Sinfonia (11 September).

Proms Chamber Music 

In the first Chamber Prom of 2014, Les Arts Florissants perform Rameau’s Pièces de clavecin en concertsmarking 250 years since his death and featuring harpsichordist Paolo Zanzu (21 July).

Violinist Rachel Podger and fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout give a complete programme of C. P. E. Bach sonatas, marking the 300th anniversary of the birth of this famous son (28 July).

Michael Collins directs London Winds in works by Strauss and Mozart (4 August) .

Chief Conductor of the BBC SO, Sakari Oramo, takes to the stage, not only with his baton but also his violin, to join star of the Last Night Janine Jansen and pianist Itamar Golan in a performance of Prokofiev’s Sonata for two violins in C major (11 August).

Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote performs Strauss and Wolf Lieder with regular collaborator Julius Drake (18 August).

On Bank Holiday Monday, pianist Louis Schwizgebel performs Mozart and is joined by the Royal String Quartet in a performance of Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A minor. Katarzyna Budnik-Gałązka (viola), Marcin Zdunik (cello) and Tomasz Januchta (double bass) also take to the Cadogan Hall stage to perform a string septet version of Strauss’s Metamorphosen (25 August).

Benjamin Grosvenor performs a new piano work written for him by Judith Weir alongside works by Chopin, Ravel, Mompou and Gounod(1 September) .

In the final Chamber Prom of the festival, Ian Bostridge and Dame Felicity Palmer join the Nash Ensemble to recite Walton’s jazz-inspired Façade conducted by John Wilson (8 September).

Proms Saturday Matinees

The four Proms Saturday Matinees fall into two pairs of concerts, the first featuring Proms debut international chamber orchestras, and the second celebrating two of the UK’s best-known composers, both celebrating their 80th birthdays in 2014.

• In a musical feast from Greece, Athens-based chamber orchestra Armonia Atenea under conductor George Petrou mark their Proms debut with an all-Greek line-up of soloists: Myrsini Margariti (soprano) and Irini Karaianni (mezzo-soprano). The programme of Baroque and early Classical repertoire inspired by Greek myths ranges from Vivaldi, Handel and Gluck to Paisiello and Hasse (2 August)
  
  
• The Lapland Chamber Orchestra comes to the Proms for the first time with its Artistic Director John Storgårds. The programme juxtaposes C. P. E. Bach, Harrison Birtwistle, Honegger, Peter Maxwell Davies and Sibelius. Håkan Hardenberger performs the solo trumpet part in Birtwistle’s Endless Parade (9 August)
  
  
• In a programme dedicated to Sir Peter Maxwell Davies in his 80th year, the London Sinfonietta under Sian Edwards perform three works from across his compositional career: Revelation and Fall (1966), A Mirror of Whitening Light (1977) and Linguae Ignis (2002) (30 August)
  
  
• The final Saturday Matinee of the 2014 festival celebrates the 80th birthday of Sir Harrison Birtwistle with a programme of his ensemble music performed by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Exaudi and mezzo-soprano Christine Rice, conducted by Oliver Knussen (6 September)