Last Night of the Proms 2025

Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor join the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the BBC Singers and the National Youth Choir for a brand new orchestral arrangement of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, marking its 50th anniversary. Comedian Bill Bailey makes his BBC Proms debut with Leroy Anderson’s The Typewriter. Elim Chan conducts the Last Night of the Proms for the first time, leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the BBC Singers and the National Youth Choir. French mezzo-soprano Axelle Saint-Cirel joins the massed forces for the UK premiere of Arthur Benjamin's ‘Storm Clouds’ Cantata written for the assassination scene in Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much, in the Royal Albert Hall. Louise Alder becomes the first British soprano to sing at the Last Night of the Proms in more than a decade and tonight marks Alison Balsom’s final performance as a trumpet soloist.
The programme also includes two world premieres commissioned by the BBC: Fireworks by Camille Pépin and The Gathering Tree by Rachel Portman, who's the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Presented by Georgia Mann and Petroc Trelawny, live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Modest Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain (original version, 1867)
Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Trumpet Concerto in E flat major with Alison Balsom, trumpet
Lucy Walker: Today with BBC Singers (a cappella)
Arthur Benjamin: ‘Storm Clouds’ Cantata 1956 – UK premiere with Axelle Saint-Cirel, mezzo-soprano, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus
Charles Gounod: Faust – ‘O Dieu! que de bijoux … Ah! je ris de me voir’ (Jewel Song) with Louise Alder, soprano
Franz Lehár: The Merry Widow - Es lebt’ eine Vilja’ (Vilja Song) with Louise Alder, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus
Camille Pépin: Fireworks (BBC commission: world premiere)
Paul Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

c.8.30pm
During the interval Petroc & Georgia chat with the actor and comedian Nick Mohammed and the pianist Nicholas McCarthy, whose sumptuous performance of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand we heard in the opening weekend of the season

9pm
Freddie Mercury/Queen, arr. Stuart Morley: Bohemian Rhapsody with Sam Oladeinde, Louise Alder, Alison Balsom, BBC Singers, National Youth Choir, BBC Symphony Chorus and special guest appearances from Sir Brian May and Roger Taylor
Dmitri Shostakovich: Festive Overture
Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe, arr. Paul Campbell: My Fair Lady – medley (Wouldn’t it be Loverly – Without You – On the Street Where you Live – Show Me – I Could Have Danced All Night) with Louise Alder and BBC Singers
Leonard Bernstein, arr. Simon Wright: Prelude, Fugues and Riffs – Riffs with Alison Balsom
Leroy Anderson, arr. Alasdair Malloy: The Typewriter with Bill Bailey
Rachel Portman and text: Nick Drake: The Gathering Tree (BBC commission: world premiere) with BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus
Trad., arr. Henry Wood: Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Thomas Arne, arr. Malcolm Sargent: Rule, Britannia! with Louise Alder
Edward Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1
Hubert Parry, arr. Edward Elgar: Jerusalem
arr. Benjamin Britten: The National Anthem
Trad., arr. Paul Campbell: Auld Lang Syne

Louise Alder, soprano
Alison Balsom, trumpet
Axelle Saint-Cirel, mezzo soprano
Bill Bailey, typewriter
Sam Oladeinde, tenor
Sir Brian May, electric guitar
Roger Taylor, drums
National Youth Choir
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
Neil Ferris, chorusmaster
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Elim Chan, conductor

The biggest night in classical music is back! After eight weeks and over 80 concerts, the 2025 BBC Proms celebrates with a Last Night spectacular, packed with musical surprises and star turns. Elim Chan conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in all the traditional favourites – anthems, folk songs and singalongs – with solo performances by ‘captivating’ soprano Louise Alder and ‘sensational’ trumpeter Alison Balsom. There’s a nod to this season’s Bernard Herrmann celebration, a mischievous sorcerer’s apprentice from Dukas, and premieres by Camille Pépin and Rachel Portman.