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Need a burst of energy and motivation to kick off the new academic year? The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Proms have you covered with a handpicked selection of some of this season’s most electrifying and uplifting musical moments, perfect for powering through some difficult tasks, sparking creativity, or simply lifting your spirits.

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The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra perform with Mark Wigglesworth © Chris Christodoulou/ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra is a great favourite with audiences, full to the brim with catchy tunes and vibrancy.

The eight-movement suite was arranged by Shostakovich’s close friend and colleague Levon Atmovyan in the 1950s from Shostakovich's music for ballet, musical theatre and film spanning the 1930s and 1950s. The suite’s ‘variety’ comes from its distinctive use of dance band instruments, including four saxophones, two pianos, guitar and accordion. Most famous is the Waltz No. 2, the seventh movement, which featured in Stanley Kubrick’s 1999 Eyes Wide Shut. Another standout moment includes the suite’s opening March, a cheerful overture that's full of humor and lightness, played as if depicting a toy soldier’s parade.

Shostakovich’s Suite for Variety Orchestra was performed by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under conductor Mark Wigglesworth on 20 July.

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Beverley Knight and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Concert Orchestra © Sisi Burn/ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Aretha Franklin’s iconic hit ‘Respect’ is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, an electrifying anthem that gets everyone up on their feet and dancing.

Released in the 1960s, it marked Franklin’s breakout moment and quickly became a powerful musical symbol of both the feminist and Civil Rights movements. With its bold demand for ’respect,‘ the song delivers a clear and uncompromising message: equality for women and Black Americans in a society that too often denies it. The song became a global sensation and a cornerstone of soul music, driven by grooving horn riffs, sharp guitar licks, and a solid backbeat — but it was Aretha Franklin’s powerhouse vocals that elevated it into a stirring call to arms.

Beverley Knight and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Concert Orchestra performed ’Respect’ during the Soul Revolution Prom on 3 August.

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The National Youth Orchestra and Dalia Stasevska perform Star Wars © Chris Christodoulou/ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Few film scores are as instantly recognisable, or as thrilling, as John Williams’s music for the Star Wars films.

From the very first moment, the orchestral crash of the Main Title lifts the hairs on the back of your neck like an electric shock. You're then met with a bold, soaring brass fanfare which carries over the top of the orchestra, before the music transitions into a more romantic, sweeping melody that announces that you have fully arrived in an other-worldly realm.

So beloved and iconic is this music that it has earned a place in the symphonic repertoire, celebrated not just as fantastic film music but as a masterwork in its own right. John Williams draws on the rich musical language of earlier masters such as such as Korngold, Strauss and especially Gustav Holst, whose The Planets has clearly left a lasting impression. With its rich orchestration and vivid musical colouring, it really does sound as if you could be hurtling through space in a galaxy far, far away...

John Williams’s Star Wars suite was performed by The National Youth Orchestra with conductor Dalia Stasevska on 9 August.

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Eva Ollikainen and the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ SO perform ‘The Rite of Spring’ © Andy Paradise/ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

If this piece doesn’t set your pulse racing, then it’s hard to know what will!

Stravinsky’s explosive 1913 The Rite of Spring is a ballet in two parts, inspired by the pagan rituals of ancient Russia, culminating in the brutal sacrifice of a young virgin. Around three minutes in, the music erupts with jagged, stamping rhythms in the strings; this is The Augurs of Spring, a primal celebration of the arrival of spring in the hills. The accents fall unpredictably, setting you on edge. The ballet’s first part ends with the Dance of the Earth, a frenzied and terrifying climax. Rough brass and shrieking winds collide with thunderous percussion and the relentless whirring of strings in an unstoppable forward momentum.

The riot that took place at the ballet’s premiere in Paris are now the stuff of legend – jeers, whistles and even fistfights broke out in the audience, forcing the police to intervene. Today, The Rite of Spring is hailed as one of the most influential works of the 20th century, a bold and visceral piece that ushered in a new musical era.

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring was performed by the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra with conductor Eva Ollikainen on 13 August.

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Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and conductor Klaus Mäkelä © Chris Christodoulou/ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

The finale of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra is a virtuosic tour de force of orchestral virtuosity. From the moment the boisterous horn call launches the movement, the action is a-go: scampering strings burst forth at a breathlessly fast tempo, driving towards a thrilling climax that sweeps in the entire orchestra in a like a tornado.

This piece is arguably Bartók’s most famous work and one of his final compositions, written shortly before his death in 1945 in New York. Having fled his native Hungary following the outbreak of the Second World War, Bartók poured his creative energy into the Concerto for Orchestra: a brilliant display of orchestral colour and technical difficulty, the ‘concerto’ element of the title reflecting Bartók’s intent to spotlight each section of the orchestra in turn.

Klaus Mäkelä conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in a performance of Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra on 24 August.

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Conductor Jonathon Heyward with Chineke! Orchestra at the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Proms 2025 © Andy Paradise/ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s The Bamboula is a vibrant dance piece that pulses with energy and passion.

Named after a traditional West African drum used in communal and ritual dances, the piece embodies the spirit of African musical heritage through Coleridge-Taylor’s masterful incorporation of rhythms and melodies of African cultures into his orchestral writing. The result is a dramatic musical journey, rich with darting themes and shifting pulses that vividly evoke the sacred energy of the drum and the ceremonial dance it accompanies.

The Bamboula was performed by Chineke! Orchestra and conductor Jonathon Heyward on 5 September.

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Conductor John Wilson with the Sinfonia of London at the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Proms 2025 © Chris Christodoulou/ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Don Juan is a dazzling tone-poem for large orchestra, inspired by the legendary tale of its eponymous subject – the infamous womaniser and libertine popularised in 17th-century Spain.

The score erupts with a bold, dramatic flourish from the whole orchestra, heralding Don Juan’s entrance with electrifying energy. From this moment onwards, the listener is swept into an epic musical journey that follows Don Juan’s relentless pursuit of his ideal woman, and Strauss masterfully transports us into a dreamlike, sensual realm. However, there’s no time to linger before the Don moves swiftly to his next conquest, embodied in the heroic and soaring horn themes. The music races forwards with bravura until the final, poignant moments bring the story to its tragic close. Disillusioned and weary, Don Juan meets his end, allowing himself to be stabbed in a duel by a father seeking vengeance for his daughter.

You can listen to all of these special musical moments on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Sounds after they have been performed until 13 October 2025.

All Proms are broadcast live on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 3 and many are available to watch on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ TV and ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ iPlayer.