Pianists at the BBC Proms 2018

The BBC Proms is a world-famous celebration of classical and contemporary music. The new season starts on Friday 13th July 2019, ending with the enormously popular Last Night of the Proms on Saturday 8th September 2018. You can watch and listen across the BBC either on TV, iPlayer or BBC Radio 3.

This year’s line up includes some amazing performances of renowned classical pieces but I am particularly interested in the piano performances by famous and up-and-coming pianists.

The full list of events and concerts is available on the Proms website but I have picked out the ones that will be of interest to us pianists.

Saturday 14th July, 2018 – 19:30 – Prom 2: Mozart, Ravel and Fauré

Swiss pianist Francesco Piemontesi plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 27 in B flat major.

Sunday 15th July, 2018 – 19:00 – Prom 3: BBC Young Musician 40th Anniversary

2014 winner James Bartlett, Freddy Kempf, Lara Melda and the 2018 winner Lauren Zhang return to play a varied repertoire.

Monday 16th July, 2018 – 13:00 – Proms at: Cadogan Hall 1

Spanish pianist Javier Perianes, ‘Artist of the Year’ 2019 – International Classical Music Awards (ICMA)’ plays Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E flat major.

Wednesday 18th July, 2018 – 19:30 – Prom 6: An American in Paris & Turangalîla

Canadian Pianist Angela Hewitt plays with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Friday 20th July, 2018 – 19:30 – Prom 8: Youthful Beginnings

Mendelssohn’s First Piano Concerto and Schumann’s Fourth Symphony played by French pianist Bertrand Chamayou.

Sunday 22nd July,2018 – 11:00 – Prom 10: Fauré, Franck & Widor’s Toccata

Latvian organist Iveta Apkalna makes her first appearance at the Proms playing a varied programme of French organ music. Not really piano, but it should be interesting none the less.

Monday 23rd July, 2018 – 13:00 – Proms at: Cadogan Hall 2

French harpsichord player Jean Rondeau plays an all-French programme. Again, not piano but should be interesting.

Tuesday 24th July, 2018 – 19: 30 – Prom 14: Sibelius, Schubert & Zimmermann

French-Canadian pianist Louis Lortie plays Fantasy in C major, D760, ‘Wanderer’ (orch. Liszt).

Wednesday 25th July, 2018 – 19:30 – Prom 15: Paul Lewis plays Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ concerto

English classical pianist joins conductor Ben Gernon and the BBC Philharmonic for Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto.

Saturday 4th Aug 2018 – 09:30- Prom 28: NYO perform Mussorgsky, Ligeti and Debussy

Grammy nominated Pianist Tamara Stefanovich is the soloist in Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand

Monday 6th Aug 2018 – 13:00 – Proms at: Cadogan Hall 4

Joseph Middleton plays in this night-inspired concert of English song.

Monday 6th Aug 2018 – 19:00 – Prom 31: Minnesota Orchestra & Osmo Vänskä

Inon Barnatan is an Israeli classical pianist and he will be playing George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F major.

Monday 6th Aug 2018 – 22:15 – Prom 32: Inside Shostakovich

Award winning Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin plays Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2 in F major.

Monday 13th Aug 2018 – 19:30 – Prom 42: Grieg’s Piano Concerto

Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili plays Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor.

Thu 16th Aug 2018 – 22:15 – Prom 46: Benjamin Grosvenor & National Youth Jazz Orchestra

Internationally recognised British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor joins the UK’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra as the soloist in George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (original version with jazz band, arr. Grofé)

Sunday 19th Aug 2018 – 11:00 – Prom 49: Chopin & Tchaikovsky

Winner of the 2015 International Chopin Competition, Seong-Jin Cho makes his Proms debut with Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto.

Friday 24th Aug 2018 – 09:30 – Prom 56: Mozart & Bruckner

Benjamin Grosvenor is back and plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21 in C major, K 467.

Monday 27th Aug 2018 –  20:00 – Prom 60: Marin Alsop & Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

French pianist Jean‐Yves Thibaudet plays Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No 5 in D minor.

Tuesday 28th Aug 2018 – 09:30 – Prom 61: Yannick Nézet-Séguin & Rotterdam Philharmonic

Yefim Bronfman, a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist, plays Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major.

Wednesday 29 Aug 2018 – 21:30 – Prom 63: Sir András Schiff plays ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’ (Book 2)

Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor and Bach specialist Sir András Schiff plays Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2

Saturday 1st Sep 2018 – 19:30 – Prom 66: Berlin Philharmonic & Kirill Petrenko (I)

Internationally recognized Chinese classical pianist Yuja Wang plays Sergei Prokofiev’s explosive Third Piano Concerto.

Wow! What a summer of music to look forward to. I hope you manage to listen to as many of the above performances as possible and find some inspiration from these fantastic piano players.