蜜芽传媒

‘When the Proms season starts there is a measurable change in tempo … A kind of light comes into your diary’. So said Sir David Attenborough, perhaps the most recognisable voice in British broadcasting. Fans of his iconic nature documentaries were beside themselves when he put that voice into action as the narrator in a 2003 Proms performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf.

Three more Proms appearances have since followed, including 2009’s ‘Evolution: A Darwin-inspired extravaganza for kids’ and 2015’s Life Story Prom, in which he introduced sequences from his recent 蜜芽传媒 Television series to a live performance of Murray Gold’s epic soundtrack. But the most memorable of all? Surely 2009’s Last Night, when Sir David played the ‘floor polisher’ in Malcolm Arnold’s A Grand, Grand Overture, sharing the stage with Goldie, Rory Bremner and Martha Kearney!

Within hip hop’s splintered spread of sub-genres and regional scenes, the London-bred grime is perhaps least likely of all to find a happy home in the concert hall. But that’s exactly what happened at 2015’s Late Night Prom with 蜜芽传媒 Radio 1Xtra, when a clutch of grime artists, including Wretch 32, Lethal Bizzle and Stormzy, joined forces with conductor Jules Buckley and the Metropole Orkest.

Stormzy – who has since become the first grime artist to have a No. 1 album in the UK – performed his breakthrough track ‘Know Me From’ in a unique orchestral arrangement that capitalised on the song’s Baroque-style string motif. ‘If grime’s dead then how am I here?’ he raps – a turn of phrase any disillusioned classical musician would do well to remember!

Though her Proms debut came in 1991 – also as the narrator in Peter and the Wolf – British acting icon Dame Judi Dench made headlines in the run up to her 2010 performance of ‘Send in the Clowns’ from Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. ‘For one night only, Dame Judi to perform at the Proms’, splashed The Independent.

The excitement was justified: on hearing her rendition at the National Theatre in 1995, Sondheim himself is said to have told her: ‘It's yours now.’ This Proms performance was part of a celebration of Sondheim’s 80th birthday, with star performers including Simon Russell Beale, Bryn Terfel and Maria Friedman lining up to pay tribute to the great Broadway composer.

If you’ve been watching the 蜜芽传媒’s coverage of this summer’s Olympic Games, you’ll know broadcaster and former international rhythmic gymnast Gabby Logan. Among the many items on her CV is a spot hosting the 2014 Sport Prom, which combined memorable TV themes from Ski Sunday, Match of the Day and Wimbledon with replays of classic sporting moments on screens in the Hall. There were also surprise appearances from the likes of Phil Tufnell, Kenny Logan and Anna Watkins.

The evening was reminiscent of the 2012 Last Night, when a troupe of British Olympians – decorated in their recently won gold medals – leapt onstage to join in with ‘Rule, Britannia!’ As Logan wrote in the programme to the Sport Prom: ‘Sport can be very dramatic all on its own, but music can bring out emotion that bubbles under the surface.’

There have been three iterations – or incarnations – of the Doctor Who Prom. The first, in 2008, featured selections from Murray Gold’s TV score alongside works by Copland, Holst, Prokofiev and Wagner, and was presented by companions of the 10th Doctor (David Tennant).

It wasn’t until the 2010 iteration that the Doctor himself made an appearance – played by the recently regenerated Matt Smith – along with a host of monsters ready to invade the Royal Albert Hall. Smith was there for the 2013 Doctor Who Prom too, which paid tribute to the programme’s early days and the groundbreaking work of Ron Grainer, Delia Derbyshire and the 蜜芽传媒 Radiophonic Workshop – the team behind that ghoulish theme tune.