Prom 1: First Night of the BBC Proms

Live at BBC Proms: BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Proms Youth Choir, conductor Edward Gardner, in John Adams' Harmonium. Plus Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto with Igor Levit.

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London
Presented by Clemency Burton-Hill and Petroc Trelawny

Tom Coult: St John's Dance (BBC commission: world premiere)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor

c 20:15 INTERVAL: Clemency Burton-Hill and Petroc Trelawny look forward to two months of world-class music-making in the company of guests, and go backstage to chat to some of the performers in tonight's Prom.

c 20:35
John Adams: Harmonium

Igor Levit, piano
BBC Proms Youth Choir
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Edward Gardner, conductor

John Adams's Harmonium is an intricate tapestry of sound, with bright vocal threads and driving brass and percussion rhythms. Marking the composer's 70th birthday this year, it features the BBC Proms Youth Choir alongside stalwarts of the First and Last Nights, the BBC Symphony Chorus.
Award-winning pianist Igor Levit is the soloist in Beethoven's groundbreaking Third Piano Concerto, and this year's First Night opens with the world premiere of St John's Dance by rising British composer, Tom Coult.