Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet

BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Jac van Steen (conductor)

The 2016 season of BBC World Service broadcasts from this year's Proms opens with Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, one of the most dramatic and colourful of all ballets. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet may be the best-known tragic love story in Western drama but that didn't stop the ever-innovative Prokofiev experimenting with alternative endings. He was lured back to Moscow from his long Western exile with promises of fame and lavish commissions, but it was the highly expressive style of Rudolf Nureyev, and his now legendary performances in London in the 1960s, which drew the public's attention to the power and originality of Prokofiev's score.

The programme is hosted by one of BBC Radio 3’s expert presenters, Andrew McGregor, who will be joined by Marina Frolova-Walker, Russian professor in Music History at Cambridge University who specialises in the music of the Soviet era.

Image: Conductor Jac van Steen performing the world premiere of Michael Berkeley’s Violin Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales Credit: BBC/Chris Christodoulou