David Nice writes: It's always the same, at least among the folk I know: before the Proms season starts, we grumble about why there aren't more rarities beyond the usual commissions and anticipate with some dread the weird acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall. Then it kicks off; we get swept up in the excellence of so many performances and even find some blessings to being at certain places in the Prince Consort's Colosseum where aural magic can do its stuff (still, the best place to be is standing in the Arena for a mere £8)
Doyen of concert photographers Chris Christodoulou has attended way more Proms than any of theartsdesk's critics, and all of us regret not being around for certain highlights. But maybe I can preface his amazing selection - this year, featuring delightful backstage scenes as well as the more extreme podium antics - with a few top choices from the classical music team.
Alexandra Coghlan and I are still reeling from John Wilson's Respighi extravaganza with his Sinfonia of London, which marshalled everything the vast venue does best except big choirs (curiously, the Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts didn't really work for me). Otherwise, I found only one totally perfect Prom from the ones I attended, with the RPO under Vasily Petrenko on extraordinary form, the Elgar Cello Concerto selling a programme which included Walton's magical-eerie Second Symphony, and otherwise halves or components: Elza van den Heever flamethrowing to the back of the hall in the final scene from Richard Strauss's Salome with Yannick Nézet-Séguin bringing the Met Orchestra to the Proms for the first time; a perfect Poulenc first half from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Kazuki Yamada; transcendental Prokofiev marking the welcome return of his predecessor in Birmingham, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, with the superb Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.
That was also one of Bernard Hughes's choices. Boyd Tonkin chose a Prom I was really sorry to have missed, Mark Elder's semi-staged performance of Weber's Oberon; ditto Rachel Halliburton's selection of the Bach B minor Mass just before the end. Second choices here are Boyd going for the second Berlin Philharmonic Prom under Kirill Petrenko - the first amazed me, but hasn't stayed with me- and the First Night for Rachel. Which is where Chris's selection begins.
Dalia Stasevska (17 July)
David Afkham (19 July)
Stephanie Wake-Edwards (20 July)
Gianandrea Noseda (20 July)
John Wilson (24 July)
Lucas and Arthur Jussen (26 July)
Edward Gardner (27 July)
Louise Alder (27 July)
Leonidas Kavakos (right) and Paavo Järvi (2 August)
Alina Ibragimova (4 August)
Elena Schwarz (4 August)
Anneke Scott (6 August)
Tubas of the National Youth Orchestra (8 August)
Thomas Adès and Gustavo Dudamel (11 August)
Tom Fetherstonhaugh (11 August)
Evelyn Glennie (11 August)
Martin Fröst (16 August)
Aline Wunderlin as Zerbinetta with her harlequins (19 August)
Jamie Barton and Clay Hilley (21 August)
Anja Bihlmaier (21 August)
Amy Harman (23 August)
Marin Alsop (24 August)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (26 August)
Elza van den Heever (26 August)
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (29 August)
Jakub Hrůša (1 September)
Martha Argerich and Lahav Shani (5 September)
Julie Roset (6 September)
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Jess Gillam and Ben Goldscheider (6 September)
Isabelle Faust and Simon Rattle (7 September)
Natalya Romaniw (9 September)
Paweł Kapuła (9 September)
Jeanine De Bique, Hugh Cutting, Florian Störtz and Nick Pritchard (10 September)
Jonathan Cohen (10 September)
Philipp von Steinaecker (11 September)
Sakari Oramo and Yuja Wang (12 September)
Nicky Spence and Dancers (12 September)
